Development and comparison of high-power semiconductor switches

In this paper a comparison of three types of semiconductor devices suitable for high power applications is presented. All of these devices feature high switching speed and snubberless turn-off capability. The devices compared include two high voltage insulated gate bipolar transistor (HVIGBT) and two types of hard-driven GTO thyristors-the integrated gate commutated thyristor (IGCT) and the emitter turn-on (ETO) thyristor. The conduction and switching characteristics are compared, and an assessment is presented of the impact on high-power converter circuits for these devices. Test results are shown.