Evaluation of SiC GTOs for pulse power switching

Author

Bayne, S.B. ; Ibitayo, D.

Author_Institution

US Army Res. Lab., Adelphi, MD, USA

Volume

1

fYear

2003

fDate

15-18 June 2003

Firstpage

135

Abstract

Certain applications require devices that can switch high peak current with fast rise times and narrow pulse width. This work was done as an initial study to investigate the performance of Silicon Carbide (SiC) Gate turn-off thyristor (GTO) in these applications. The SiC GTOs were designed for high turn-off gain and not optimized for pulse applications. The GTOs were tested as discharge switches in a low inductance circuit delivering 2/spl mu/s pulses with a maximum switching current of 1.4 kA (94.6 kA/cm/sup 2/) and a current rise time of 2.4 kA//spl mu/s. All the devices were switched until failure. The failure modes will be discussed.

Keywords

inductance; power semiconductor switches; pulsed power supplies; pulsed power switches; thyristors; wide band gap semiconductors; 1.4 kA; SiC GTO; discharge switches; fast rise time; low inductance circuit; narrow pulse width; peak current; pulse power switching; silicon carbide gate turn-off thyristor; switching current; Anodes; Circuit testing; Inductance; Power semiconductor switches; RLC circuits; Silicon carbide; Switching circuits; Temperature; Thyristors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Pulsed Power Conference, 2003. Digest of Technical Papers. PPC-2003. 14th IEEE International

Conference_Location

Dallas, TX, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7915-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PPC.2003.1277677

Filename

1277677