Static and Switching Characteristics of 6500 V Silicon Carbide Anode Switched Thyristor Modules

Silicon Carbide Anode Switched Thyristors (ASTs) overcome major limitations of conventional Si and SiC IGBT and GTO Thyristor solutions by providing robust, MOS-controlled, turn-off at high currents, current saturation in the output characteristics through series current controlled device turn-off. In this work, detailed static and switching characteristics of 6.5 kV-class SiC ASTs are reported, which include a low on-state voltage drop of 4 V at 100 A/cm(2), slight positive temperature co-efficient of Von, current saturation at > 100 A Cathode currents and fast turn-on and turn-off times of < 2 mu s while switching 3600 V and 14.5 A. The transient voltages seen by the Si MOSFETs during AST switching are examined to determine safe operating area limits for this circuit configuration.