Thyristors and IGBTs with integrated self-protection functions

Recent activities in insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) and thyristor development focus on the integration of protection functions in order to improve the reliability of the entire electronic system. It is shown how various protection functions can be integrated into symmetric and asymmetric light-triggered thyristors with a blocking capability up to 13 kV. Furthermore, different measures to provide IGBTs with an overvoltage protection are discussed and experimental results revealing the successful implementation of such a protection function are presented.