Theoretical and experimental characteristics of the insulated-gate thyristor (IGTH)

A Insulated-Gate Thyristor (IGTH) design consisting of square cells with high density of MOS channels modulating the resistance of the base region of the NPN transistor of the thyristor structure is described. The on-state characteristics of IGTH structures including the effect of the lateral parasitic bipolar transistor are studied with the help of numerical device simulations and are analytically modeled by simple analytical equations. The variation of IGTH characteristics with temperature and electron-irradiation dose is experimentally studied and the behavior is explained with the help of analytical equations. The modeling results were found to be in good agreement with experimental results obtained on many lots of 600 V-1200 V Insulated-Gate Thyristors (IGTH) fabricated with an active area of 1.3 mm/sup 2/-0.35 cm/sup 2/. The analytical models developed can also be applied to design and predict the characteristics of other MOS-gated thyristor structures.