Further refinements to an optimum gate drive for high power GTO thyristors

The authors discuss further refinements to a previously described gate/base drive for a current-controlled type semiconductor device such as a GTO or a bipolar transistor. This gate drive is a MOSFET-based current shaping circuit designed to minimize gate driver power supply losses and gate and turn-on losses in high power GTOs. It can be easily modified to drive GTOs of different ratings by altering reference signals for the gate current. Gate current monitoring using current-sensing MOSFETs, GTO on/off detection, specification of gate drive power supplies, and changes to the logic implementation are discussed, with experimental results shown.<>