Title :
Half-bridge inverter using 4H-SiC gate turn-off thyristors
Author :
Tipton, C.W. ; Bayne, S.B. ; Griffin, T.E. ; Scozzie, C.J. ; Geil, B. ; Agarwal, A.K. ; Richmond, Jim
Author_Institution :
US Army Res. Lab., Adelphi, MD, USA
fDate :
4/1/2002 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
This paper reports on the first demonstration of a half-bridge power inverter constructed from silicon carbide gate turn-off thyristors (GTOs) operated in the conventional GTO mode. This circuit was characterized with input bus voltages of up to 600 VDC and 2 A (peak current density of 540 A/cm2) with resistive loads using a pulse-width modulated switching frequency of 2 kHz. We discuss the implications of the thyristor´s electrical characteristics and the circuit topology on the overall operation of the half-bridge circuit. This work has determined the conservative critical rate of rise value of the off-state voltage to be 200 V/μs in these devices.
Keywords :
PWM invertors; bridge circuits; network topology; silicon compounds; thyristor convertors; wide band gap semiconductors; 2 A; 2 kHz; 4H-SiC gate turn-off thyristors; 600 V; SiC; circuit topology; conservative critical rate; conventional GTO mode; half-bridge power inverter; input bus voltages; off-state voltage rise value; peak current density; pulse-width modulated switching frequency; thyristor electrical characteristics; Current density; Frequency modulation; Pulse circuits; Pulse modulation; Pulse width modulation inverters; Silicon carbide; Space vector pulse width modulation; Switching frequency; Thyristors; Voltage;
Journal_Title :
Electron Device Letters, IEEE
