Applications: Power semiconductors: Thyristors, rectifiers, and transistors offer `super¿ characteristics as a result of device design advances

The present crop of new power semiconductor devices is characterised by high switching speeds, higher voltage and current ratings, greater reliability and lower prices than its predecessor. Today´s multikiloampere and -kilovolt silicon-controlled rectifiers (SRCs) with switching speeds of many kilohertz are a far cry from the first ones invented back in 1957. They are the end product of two decades of a quiet evolution in power semiconductors that has vastly improved not only SCRs but other thyristors, such as triacs, as well as rectifiers and power transistors. As a result, applications for power semiconductor devices are growing rapidly.