The ETO-IGBT – A Dual-Concept of Thyristor and Transistor Power Devices

The performance of inverters strongly depends on the characteristics of the employed semiconductor devices. Bound to a trade-off between conduction- and switching-optimization, these devices require a decision for the optimal loss balance. In this work, a new medium-voltage semiconductor device consisting of both thyristor-based and transistor-based components is proposed. The goal is reduction of losses in both conduction and switching domain. The circuitry and switching pattern is described and the improvement of overall losses is investigated by FEM-simulation to give an theoretical outlook on the benefits of the device. A selection of parameters is adapted to analyze the impact on the performance. It is shown that the overall losses can be significantly reduced by minor substitution of Gate-Commutated Thyristor (GCT) silicon area with that of Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT).