Title :
The dV/dt capability of MOS-gated thyristors
Author :
Venkataraghavan, P. ; Baliga, B.Jayant
Author_Institution :
Power Semicond. Res. Center, North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA
fDate :
7/1/1998 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
In this paper, a detailed study of the dV/dt capability of MOS-gated thyristors is performed. It is shown that in addition to the conventional mode of dV/dt-induced turn-on in thyristors, termed the intrinsic mode, there exists another distinct mode of dV/dt-induced turn-on, peculiar to the MOS-gated thyristor structure, which the authors term the extrinsic dV/dt mode. The effective dV/dt capability is determined by both modes and is degraded by the presence of an external gate-cathode resistance and parasitic gate-anode capacitance. The existence of these two modes of dV/dt-induced turn-on is demonstrated experimentally, and the effect of device parameters on the dV/dt capability is studied
Keywords :
MOS-controlled thyristors; power semiconductor switches; semiconductor device models; semiconductor device testing; MOS-gated thyristors; dV/dt capability; dV/dt-induced turn-on; device parameters; external gate-cathode resistance; extrinsic mode; intrinsic mode; parasitic gate-anode capacitance; Cathodes; Circuits; Degradation; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; MOSFETs; Parasitic capacitance; Physics; Threshold voltage; Thyristors; Voltage control;
Journal_Title :
Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on