COMPARISON OF EST STRUCTURES WITH NMOS AND PMOS TRANSISTORS FOR CONTROLLING THE THYRISTOR CURRENT

This paper describes the operation mode and the electrical characteris tics of MOS-thyristor structures (EST and Modified-EST) implemented on epitaxied p(+)-substrates. The turn-off capability is achieved by int egrating a lateral NMOS (EST) or PMOS (M-EST) transistor connected in series with the main thyristor. As a consequence, the current flow thr ough the lateral transistor channel produces an increase of the on-sta te voltage drop which is higher in the case of the PMOS lateral transi stor. However, the maximum controllable current density is much higher in the case of the M-EST structures. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.