e. Gate drive (or equivalent) circuits must be designed to supply sufficient drive current to achieve the full switching speed possible with a device. A device without sufficient drive to switch rapidly may be destroyed by excess heating.
Practical devices have non-zero voltage drop and dissipate power when on, and take some time to pass through an active region until they reach the "on" or "off" state. These losses are a significant part of the total lost power in a converter.
Power handling and dissipation of devices is also a critical factor in design. Power electronic devices may have to dissipate tens or hundreds of watts of waste heat, even switching as efficiently as possible between conducting and non-conducting states. In the switching mode, the power controlled is much larger than the power dissipated in the switch. The forward voltage drop in the conducting state translates into heat that must be dissipated. High power semiconductors require specialized heat sinks or active cooling systems to manage their junction temperature; exotic semiconductors such as silicon carbide have an advantage over straight silicon in this respect, and germanium, once the main-stay of solid-state electronics is now little used due to its unfavorable high temperature properties.
Semiconductor devices exist with ratings up to a few kilovolts in a single device. Where very high voltage must be controlled, multiple devices must be used in series, with networks to equalize voltage across all devices. Again, switching speed is a critical factor since the slowest-switching device will have to withstand a disproportionate share of the overall voltage. Mercury valves were once available with ratings to 100 kV in a single unit, simplifying their application in HVDC systems.
The current rating of a semiconductor device is limited by the heat generated within the dies and the heat developed in the resistance of the interconnecting leads. Semiconductor devices must be designed so that current is evenly distributed within the device across its internal junctions (or channels); once a "hot spot" develops, breakdown effects can rapidly destroy the device. Certain SCRs are available with current ratings to 3000 amperes in a single unit.
|Diode||Uni-polar, uncontrolled, switching device used in applications such as rectification and circuit directional current control. Reverse voltage blocking device, commonly modeled as a switch in series with a voltage source, usually 0.7 VDC. The model can be enhanced to include a junction resistance, in order to accurately predict the diode voltage drop across the diode with respect to current flow.||Up to 3000 amperes and 5000 volts in a single silicon device. High voltage requires multiple series silicon devices.|
|Silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR)||This semi-controlled device turns on when a gate pulse is present and the anode is positive compared to the cathode. When a gate pulse is present, the device operates like a standard diode. When the anode is negative compared to the cathode, the device turns off and blocks positive or negative voltages present. The gate voltage does not allow the device to turn off.||Up to 3000 amperes, 5000 volts in a single silicon device.|
|Thyristor||The thyristor is a family of three-terminal devices that include SCRs, GTOs, and MCT. For most of the devices, a gate pulse turns the device on. The device turns off when the anode voltage falls below a value (relative to the cathode) determined by the device characteristics. When off, it is considered a reverse voltage blocking device.|
|Gate turn-off thyristor (GTO)||The gate turn-off thyristor, unlike an SCR, can be turned on and off with a gate pulse. One issue with the device is that turn off gate voltages are usually larger and require more current than turn on levels. This turn off voltage is a negative voltage from gate to source, usually it only needs to be present for a short time, but the magnitude s on the order of 1/3 of the anode current. A snubber circuit is required in order to provide a usable switching curve for