Resonant gate commutated thyristor (RGCT)-a new snubberless turn-off GTO

A new family of snubberless turn-off GTO, the resonant gate commutated thyristor (RGCT) is proposed and investigated. By using a transient high commutation voltage, the RGCT can achieve unity turn-off gain and snubberless turn-off capability-even with a relatively high gate loop stray inductance. Therefore, conventional GTOs with flexible gate lead can be used to achieve state-of-the-art performance similar to that of the integrated gate commutated turn-off thyristor (IGCT). Detailed current commutation analysis and experimental results are presented.