Summary
The field of high-power thyristors is reviewed from a historical point of view. In terms of switching power, it is found that there has been substantial growth over the years. The various properties of high-power thyristors are treated with respect to their influence on the electrical parameters. Most important for the static behavior are neutron-transmutation doping of the starting material and the beveling geometry of the semiconductor edge. In contrast, the dynamic behavior is dominated by the turn-on properties leading to a distributed gate structure and the turn-off behavior which requires careful control of the recovered charge, Q . Thus the tradeoff is very similar to that for a fast-switching thyristor. As far as future developments are concerned, it is expected that most emphasis will be placed on a further increase of blocking voltage and that switching power will grow at a slower pace than hitherto.
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© 1982 Plenum Press, New York
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Jaecklin, A.A. (1982). High-Power Thyristors. In: Sittig, R., Roggwiller, P. (eds) Semiconductor Devices for Power Conditioning. Earlier Brown Boveri Symposia. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7263-9_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7263-9_2
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