"Super" GTO's push the limits of thyristor physics

Silicon power has developed an advanced "Super"-GTO or SGTO by adapting the processes of an IC foundry to fabricate high voltage GTO's. Using our patented "thinPak" technology we were able to make low impedance contact to gate and cathodes at a cell repeat of 150,000 emitter islands per cm/sup 2/, generating an extraordinary improvement in switching, both turn-on and turn-off, while reducing forward drop at the same time. The thinPak package lends itself to producing low cost power modules that are fully bonded (no dry interfaces), have isolated bases and require no clamps or springs to mount to a heat sink. This paper will introduce new SGTO developments including that, taken together, promise diode-like forward drops and much higher operating frequencies in MW modules that can be paralleled and stacked in series with fewer problems than presently faced with standard GTO's.