THE ACCUMULATION CHANNEL DRIVEN BIPOLAR-TRANSISTOR (ACBT)

A new three-terminal power switch called the Accumulation Channel driv en Bipolar Transistor (ACBT) is proposed and experimentally demonstrat ed in this paper, In the on-state, the characteristics of the ACBT hav e been found to approach those of a P-i-N rectifier with a MOSFET in s eries for regulating its current, an equivalent circuit considered to be an ideal for a MOS/Bipolar power devices, Unlike previous devices, the high off-state voltage is supported by the formation of a potentia l barrier to the flow of electrons from the N+ emitter into the N-drif t region within a depletion region, The absence of the P-base region w ithin the ACBT cells eliminates the parasitic four layer PNPN thyristo r which had limited the performance of previous MOS/Bipolar transistor structures, Consequently, the ACBT structure has large maximum contro llable and surge current densities in addition to low on-state voltage drop and high-voltage current saturation capability.