100 A and 3.1 kV 4H-SiC GTO thyristors

In this paper, we report on asymmetric SiC GTOs (gate turn-off thyristors), fabricated at Northrop Grumman with the assistance of Silicon Power Co. A module containing six 1 mm/spl times/1 mm GTOs connected in parallel has demonstrated 100 A of switching current capability. This is the highest current reported to date with GTOs designed for greater than 3 kV forward blocking voltage. GTOs fabricated from the same wafer have achieved a forward blocking voltage of 3.1 kV, which was the testing limit of the instrumentation. This represents a record high breakdown voltage for GTOs with a drift layer thickness of 30 /spl mu/m. These GTOs also demonstrated record low leakage currents of <5 /spl mu/A at the forward blocking voltage of 3.1 kV.