Low-Loss High-Power Static Induction Thyristors for Complementary Circuits

In this study, the techniques have been proposed to obtain low-loss high-power static induction thyristors (SIThy's). Dual proton-irradiation or combination of anode-shorting and proton-irradiation, provides n-channel and p-channel SIThy's with high blocking voltages and good trade-off between switching times and forward voltage drops. Particularly, dual proton-irradiation allows a SIThy with forward and reverse blocking voltage higher than 1 kV. By dual proton-irradiation, an n-channel SIThy with an n^--region 230 µm thick has shown a rise time of 0.24 µs, a storage time of 0.19 µs, a fall time of 0.08 µs and a forward voltage drop of 3.0 V at an anode current of 50 A (125 A/cm²). Without the techniques, such a good trade-off is difficult to be realized in convensional power devices with thick high-resistivivty regions. The characteristics are independent of temperature. By the technique, a p-channel SIThy with a p^--region 430 µm thick has shown a rise time of 0.5 µs, a storage time of 0.1 µs, a fall time of 0.3 µs and a forward voltage drop of 6.0 V at an anode current of 4 A (110 A/cm²). Using the newly proposed techniques for complementary SIThy's, a complementary high power control circuit with low loss and higher switching frequency than a few hundred KHz will be realized.