Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Page, D. J..
Direct inclusion of web-growth furnaces in production line expected to result in lower costs than current production processes using silicon wafers sliced from Czochralski boules. Silicon-web input capacity of line is 0.5 m2/min, which corresponds to total peak-power output of about 25 MW for 1 year of production. Line employs about 18 production people per shift and requires about 3,650 square feet of floorspace.
Various top contact metal systems were studied. Only Ti Pd Cu approaches baseline (Ti Pd Ag) quality, but this system shows a lack of long term stability. Aluminum back surface field structures were fabricated and thicknesses of p superscript + material of up to 7.0 microns were achieved with open circuit voltages of 0.59V. A general purpose ultrasonic welder was purchased and tests using various metal foils are under way. During fabrication of the demonstration module, several cells became cracked. Due to redundancy of interconnections, the module was not open circuited but the efficiency was reduced to 8.8%. The broken cell was interconnected with a strap across the back and the efficiency was increased to 11.5%. A cost analysis was made and the results indicate a selling price of $0.56/watt peak (in 1986 with 1975 dollars).
1,000-volt, 200-ampere gate-assisted turn-off thyristor has been developed for power circuits requiring high efficiency, small size, and low weight. Design features include shunted cathode for high dV/dt capability. Cathode in interdigitated with dynamic gate for fast, low-loss switching. Operating frequency exceeds 20 kHz with overall energy dissipation of less that 12 mJ per pulse for typical 20-microsecond half-sine waveform. Device has turn-on time of 2 microseconds and turn-off time as short as 3 microseconds with only 2 amperes of gate drive.
A 1,000-V, 200-A gate-assisted turn-off thyristor (GATT) is described, whose design features include an interdigitated shunted cathode, a dynamic gate, a means for optimizing the carrier lifetime level, and a bypass diode. The device physics of gate-assisted turn-off are reviewed. Based on this, improvements in the design are described. It is shown that a prime failure mode can be eliminated and that the gate-assist signal voltage can be substantially decreased by employing a shunted cathode emitter. The test data show excellent turn-on characteristics due to the dynamic gate and the long perimeter of the edge of the main cathode. Turn-off times as short as 3 microsec are obtained. The combination of controlling the carrier lifetime with a precisely controlled and easily variable irradiation dose of high energy electrons with gate assist current provides for simple, precision tailoring of the device characteristics to the intended application.