ABSTRACT
The era of semiconductor power devices began with the availability of thyristors in the late 1950s. Now, there
are several types of power devices available for high-voltage, high-current, and high-power applications. These
are used for power conversion and motor control systems. Particularly noteworthy are gate turn-off thyristors,
Darlington transistors, power MOSFETs, and insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) (Bird and King, 1984).
This section reviews the basic characteristics of the most common of these.
