A Technology Platform for Reverse-Conducting Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristors with 94 mm Device Diameter

A new optimized technology platform was developed for Reverse-Conducting Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristors (RC-IGCTs). The new platform offers a larger active device area, a higher controllable current, an increased junction temperature as well as improved cooling compared to the previous platform. In this paper, we present the first RC-IGCTs based on the new platform. The devices were developed for two different voltage classes: 4500 V and 6500 V of maximal reverse voltage. The devices are optimized for a low switching frequency and are intended for use in Multi-Level Modular Converter (MMC) static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs).