High-voltage current saturation in emitter switched thyristors

Author

Shekar, M.S. ; Baliga, B.J. ; Nandakumar, M. ; Tandon, S. ; Reisman, A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA

Volume

12

Issue

7

fYear

1991

fDate

7/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

387

Lastpage

389

Abstract

Current saturation at high voltages in MOS-gated emitter switched thyristors (ESTs) is demonstrated. It is shown that by using an improved EST structure containing a dual-channel lateral MOSFET, the thyristor current can be saturated to high voltages through MOS gate control. In experimental devices with 600-V forward blocking capability, it is observed that current densities of 110 A/cm/sup 2/ could be saturated up to 450 V with a gate bias of 3.5 V. Experimental measurements and numerical simulations indicate that, during current saturation, the voltage appears across the junction between the P-base region and the N/sup -/ drift region and not across the lateral MOSFET.<>

Keywords

electric current; thyristors; 3.5 V; 450 V; 600 V; MOS gate control; dual-channel lateral MOSFET; emitter switched thyristors; forward blocking capability; gate bias; high voltages; Cathodes; Current density; Current measurement; Density measurement; Impedance; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; MOSFET circuits; Numerical simulation; Threshold voltage; Thyristors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.103616

Filename

103616