Reverse Bias
GTO thyristors are available with or without reverse blocking capability. Reverse blocking capability adds to the forward voltage drop because of the need to have a long, low doped P1 region.
GTO thyristors capable of blocking reverse voltage are known as Symmetrical GTO thyristors, abbreviated S-GTO. Usually, the reverse blocking voltage rating and forward blocking voltage rating are the same. The typical application for symmetrical GTO thyristors is in current source inverters.
GTO thyristors incapable of blocking reverse voltage are known as asymmetrical GTO thyristors, abbreviated A-GTO, and are generally more common than Symmetrical GTO thyristors. They typically have a reverse breakdown rating in the tens of volts. A-GTO thyristors are used where either a reverse conducting diode is applied in parallel (for example, in voltage source inverters) or where reverse voltage would never occur (for example, in switching power supplies or DC traction choppers).
GTO thyristors can be fabricated with a reverse conducting diode in the same package. These are known as RCGTO, for Reverse Conducting GTO.
Read more about this topic: Gate Turn-off Thyristor
Famous quotes containing the words reverse and/or bias:
“During the late war [the American Revolution] I had an infallible rule for deciding what [Great Britain] would do on every occasion. It was, to consider what they ought to do, and to take the reverse of that as what they would assuredly do, and I can say with truth that I was never deceived.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“The solar system has no anxiety about its reputation, and the credit of truth and honesty is as safe; nor have I any fear that a skeptical bias can be given by leaning hard on the sides of fate, of practical power, or of trade, which the doctrine of Faith cannot down-weigh.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)