Design considerations for large-current GTOs

Author

Yatsuo, Tsutomu ; Kimura, Shin ; Sato, Yuuki

Author_Institution

Hitachi Ltd., Ibaraki, Japan

Volume

36

Issue

6

fYear

1989

fDate

6/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1196

Lastpage

1202

Abstract

The current crowding of a GTO during turn-off operation and the limits to operating without breakdown were investigated by a newly developed measurement method of current distribution and by computer simulation. Design considerations for large-current GTOs were clarified as follows: to increase the maximum turnoff current, current crowding is suppressed by a gate structure optimized for the distribution of a steady on-state current, and the maximum current flowing into a unit GTO is reduced in a safe operating area by optimizing the number of unit GTOs. The characteristics of a 4000-A GTO trial-fabricated under these design considerations are shown to confirm the validity of the design assumptions

Keywords

semiconductor device models; semiconductor technology; thyristors; 4 kA; computer simulation; current crowding; current distribution; design assumptions; design considerations; gate structure; gate turn off thyristors; large-current GTOs; limits to operating without breakdown; maximum turnoff current; measurement method; number of unit GTOs; safe operating area; turn-off operation; Computer simulation; Current distribution; Current measurement; Design optimization; Electric breakdown; Electrodes; Proximity effect; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Thyristors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.24368

Filename

24368