PACKAGING AND WIDE-PULSE SWITCHING OF 4 MM × 4 MM SILICON CARBIDE GTOs

摘要

The U. S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is investigating compact, energy-dense electronic components to realize high-power, vehicle-mounted survivability and lethality systems. These applications require switching components that are low in weight and volume, exhibit reliable performance, and are easy to integrate into the vehicles' systems. The devices reported here are 4 mm × 4 mm silicon carbide GTOs rated for 3000 V blocking. These devices were packaged at ARL for high pulse current capability, high voltage protection, and minimum package inductance. The GTOs were switched in a 1-ms half-sine, single-pulse discharge circuit to determine reliable peak current and recovery time (or T_q). The GTOs were repeatedly switched over 300 A peak (3.3 A/cm2 and an action of 60 A~2s) with a recovery time of 20 μs. The switches were also evaluated for dV/dt immunity up to an instantaneous slope of 3 kV/ μs.