An LPE grown InP based optothyristor for power switching applications

Author

Lis, Robert J. ; Zhao, Jian H. ; Zhu, Long D. ; Illan, J. ; McAfee, Sigrid ; Burke, Terence ; Weiner, Maurice ; Buchwald, Walter R. ; Jones, Kenneth A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ, USA

Volume

41

Issue

5

fYear

1994

fDate

5/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

809

Lastpage

813

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a new InP based optothyristor for pulsed high power switching applications and compares them with a traditional InP photoconductive switch operating under similar conditions. The optothyristor utilized a semi-insulating InP wafer inserted between the two PN junctions in a conventional thyristor structure. We also determined the dynamic I-V characteristics and the di/dt turn-on parameter for this novel optothyristor. Using a 1.06 μm YAG laser to trigger the optothyristor, we have achieved a 1200 V (4.8×10⁴ V/cm) hold-off voltage with a maximum current of 61 A. The current rise time for device turn-on was measured to be consistently under 12 ns, and a maximum di/dt of 1.4×10¹⁰ A/s was obtained

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; characteristics measurement; indium compounds; photoconducting devices; semiconductor epitaxial layers; semiconductor switches; thyristors; 12 ns; 1200 V; 61 A; InP; LPE; conventional thyristor structure; current rise time; device turn-on; di/dt turn-on parameter; dynamic I-V characteristics; hold-off voltage; optothyristor; power switching applications; semi-insulating InP wafer; Circuit testing; Fabrication; Gallium arsenide; Impedance; Indium phosphide; Photonic band gap; Photothyristors; Switches; Thyristors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.285035

Filename

285035