Abstract
This paper reports on the first demonstration of a half-bridge power inverter constructed from silicon carbide gate turn-off thyristors (GTOs) operated in the conventional GTO mode. This circuit was characterized with input bus voltages of up to 600 VDC and 2 A (peak current density of 540 A/cm2) with resistive loads using a pulse-width modulated switching frequency of 2 kHz. We discuss the implications of the thyristor's electrical characteristics and the circuit topology on the overall operation of the half-bridge circuit. This work has determined the conservative critical rate of rise value of the off-state voltage to be 200 V/μs in these devices.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 194-196 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | IEEE Electron Device Letters |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2002 |
Keywords
- Gate turn-off thyristor
- Half-bridge inverter
- Power circuits
- Silicon carbide
- Thyristor circuits