A new buried-gate GTO structure having a large safe operating area

A novel structure of a buried-gate GTO (gate turn-off thyristor) was proposed for expanding the safe operating area (SOA) of unit-GTOs. The SOA of unit-GTOs in a test sample GTO and the spike voltage at the limit of turn-off of the test sample were investigated experimentally. The SOA was calculated by means of a simple model in order to study the mechanism of the expansion of SOA in the structure. The SOA was expanded due to the reduction of the sheet resistance of the p-base layer by the fine mesh pattern of the buried layer. Corresponding to the increased size of the SOA, the spike voltage increased to 1000 V.<
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