Metal oxide semiconductor gated turn-off thyristor including a low lifetime region
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorBantval J. Baliga
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a depletion mode thyristor of the type including a regenerative portion and a non-regenerative portion, the turn-off time for the thyristor is substantially reduced without producing a corresponding increase in the on-resistance of the device by providing a region of relatively low carrier lifetime in the non-regenerative portion of the device in the layer or layers in which charge storage limits the turn-off time for the device. Turn-off of the thyristor is accomplished by pinching off the regenerative portion, thereby diverting current into the low carrier lifetime non-regenerative portion.
Claims19
A semiconductor device comprising:
- a body of semiconductor material including a regenerative portion and an adjacent non-regenerative portion, said regenerative portion including adjoining first, second, third and fourth regions of alternating conductivity type disposed in series in that order;
- a first power electrode disposed in ohmic contact with said first region;
- a second power electrode disposed in ohmic contact with said fourth region;
- means for pinching off one of said second and third regions in said regenerative portion to divert current from said regenerative portion into said adjacent non-regenerative portion to turn said device off;
- and
- at least one of said second and third regions having first and second portions, said first portion having a relatively high carrier lifetime and said second portion having a relatively low carrier lifetime, said second portion being primarily disposed within said non-regenerative portion of said device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.