Bidirectional bipolar-mode JFET driver circuitry

Abstract

Double sided versions of several power transistor types are devices that are already known in the literature. Devices built in this configuration are generally required to have a separate driver circuit to control the front and rear control electrodes and provide the gate or base voltage and/or currents for the power switch. This is because there may be of the order of 1000V potential-difference between the frontside and rearside potentials when the transistor is in the off condition—and a single integrated circuit cannot generally sustain this within a single package. The NPN configuration is preferred in this case to benefit from electron conduction for the main power path between the emitters. However, problems arising when using a P-type wafer. The present invention seeks to avoid the use of P-type wafers while still getting the higher conduction performance of NPN operation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.