20 kV, 2 cm2, 4H-SIC Gate Turn-Off Thyristors for Advanced Pulsed Power Applications

Abstract

The need for high voltage solid-state power electronic devices for advanced power distribution and energy conversion has grown rapidly in recent years, especially for pulsed power applications that require high turn-on di/dt. However, current power converters built with silicon (Si) switches are quite bulky and inefficient, making their utilization difficult in practical energy conversion and power distribution systems. The development of high-voltage power devices based on wide bandgap semiconductor such as silicon carbide (SiC) has attracted great attention due to its superior material properties over silicon. Among the high-voltage SiC power devices, SiC gate turn-off thyristor (GTO) offers excellent current handling, very high voltage blocking, and fast turn-off capabilities. SiC GTO also exhibits lower forward voltage drop than the IGBT-based switch at high injection-level currents, resulting in lower power losses during normal operation. In this paper, we report our recently developed 2 cm2, 20 kV SiC p-type gate turnoff GTO thyristor with very low differential on-resistance for advanced pulsed power applications.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA605561

Entities

People

  • A. Burk
  • A. K. Agarwal
  • C. Capell
  • Edward Van Brunt
  • H. O'brien
  • J. Richmond
  • J. W. Palmour
  • K. Lam
  • Lei Cheng
  • M. O'loughlin

Organizations

  • Wolfspeed

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Ceramic Materials
  • Compound Semiconductors
  • Conversion
  • Converters
  • Energy
  • Energy Conversion
  • High Voltage
  • Materials
  • Power Converters
  • Power Distribution
  • Power Electronics
  • Pulsed Power
  • Resistance
  • Semiconductors
  • Silicon Carbide
  • Thyristors
  • Wide Bandgap Semiconductors

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering
  • Semiconductor Device Technology
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics