Circuit simulation models of high power devices based on semiconductor physics

In this work, circuit-simulation models of high-power devices are developed, which are not available in commercial circuit-simulation programs. The major focus is on thyristors that can be turned off by their gate, i. e. the Gate Turn-Off (GTO-) type thyristors. This also includes modern GTO variants such as GCT, MTO and ETO. The model equations are based on semiconductor physics using the lumped-charge method. By this method, an accurate device model with moderate simulation effort is realized. In addition to the fundamental 1-dimensional behavior, 2-dimensional effects and the parallel connection of several single cells in real devices are also considered in the models. The models developed in this work are implemented in the circuit-simulation program PSpice using the Device Equation option. Finally, simulation results obtained by the new models are compared to finite-element simulations and to experimental measurements showing excellent agreement.