An InP-based optothyristor for pulsed power-switching applications

Author

Zhao, Jian H. ; Lis, Robert ; Coblentz, Debbie ; Illan, Juan ; McAfee, Sigrid ; Burke, Terry ; Weiner, Maurice ; Buchwald, Walter ; Jones, Kenneth A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ, USA

Volume

14

Issue

3

fYear

1993

fDate

3/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

140

Lastpage

142

Abstract

A high-power InP-based optothyristor has been fabricated and tested for pulsed power switching. To increase the power handling capability, the device has a 250 mu m-thick Fe-doped semi-insulating (SI) InP sandwiched between two p-n junctions grown by MOCVD. The device turn-on is controlled by optical illumination on the SI-InP, which creates a high concentration of electron and hole pairs. The switched current and the di/dt rating have been studied as a function of the switch blocking voltage. It is shown that the optothyristor is capable of switching a current almost four times the current switched by a bulk SI-InP photoconductive switch under the same voltage bias.<>

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; indium compounds; optoelectronic devices; pulsed power technology; semiconductor switches; thyristors; InGaAs-InP-InP:Fe; MOCVD; optical illumination; optothyristor; p-n junctions; power handling capability; pulsed power-switching applications; switch blocking voltage; switched current; Electron optics; Indium phosphide; MOCVD; Optical control; Optical pulses; P-n junctions; Photothyristors; Switches; Testing; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.215137

Filename

215137