Design and realization of a credit card size driver stage for high power thyristor based devices with integrated MOS structure

The Emitter Turn-off Thyristor (ETO) is an advantageous concept in sense of a MOS gated thyristor device. The innovative integration of the MOSFETs inside the press-pack housing allows a cable connection between the high power device and the external gate driver. After a short introduction, this paper focuses on the design and the realization of the external driver stage. Besides a mechanical and thermal decoupling of the driver from the high voltage device, the advantages are an extremely compact design in credit card dimensions. Today´s IGCT solutions require typically A4 format (210 mm × 297 mm). Measurements of the prototype prove a significant lower power consumption, which stays far below 5 W at all operating conditions. Additional functionality is demonstrated by short circuit detection and handling.