Role of the amplifying gate in the turn-on process of involute structure thyristors

Author

Sankaran, Venkateswara A. ; Hudgins, Jerry L. ; Portnoy, William M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., South Carolina Univ., Columbia, SC, USA

Volume

5

Issue

2

fYear

1990

fDate

4/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

125

Lastpage

132

Abstract

The switching characteristics of involute thyristors with and without the amplifying gate structure are discussed. The effects of peak gate currents (10-100 A) on the anode current di/dt, switching delay, and energy loss in both types of devices are presented. The performance of the devices without the amplifying gate was far superior than that of the devices with the amplifying gate. A model is presented to explain this difference. Thyristors without the amplifying gate successfully switched anode currents on the order of 12.6 kA, at a di/dt of 100000 A/μs, from an anode voltage of 2 kV on a single-shot basis

Keywords

amplification; semiconductor switches; thyristors; 10 to 100 A; 12.6 kA; 2 kV; amplifying gate; anode current; anode voltage; energy loss; involute structure thyristors; peak gate currents; single-short switching measurements; switching characteristics; switching delay; turn-on process; Anodes; Delay effects; Electronic equipment testing; Laser radar; Pulse measurements; Pulse modulation; Pulse power systems; Switches; Thyristors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-8993

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/63.53149

Filename

53149