Optimized diode design for IGBT's and GCT's switching circuits.

In a modern power converter, the high performance of semiconductor switches, like IGBTs and GCT's, imposes hard turn-off to diodes, with fast current gradients resulting in undesirable and dangerous overvoltages. A new family of optimized diodes has been developed as well as a new test circuit able to evaluate the diode behavior under real operation conditions.