Background To Hollow Emitter Technology

EE 60 October 1987 BACKGROUND TO HOLLOW EMITTER TECHNOLOGY by Sue Cain and Ray Ambrose* Hollow emitter technology falls into the area of power transistor technology lying between bipolar and power mos, providing an economic solution to high voltage switching. Ideally suited to switching frequencies which cause problems to both bipolar and power mos devices, hollow emitter technology improves the performance of multiepitaxial mesa power transistors. This article describes the features of hollow emitter technology, and discusses the characteristics of some currently available devices. Within the field of power tran- sistor technology, the area be- tween bipolar and power mos is occupied by high voltage switching. An economic solution is provided by hollow emitter technology. Hollow emitter technology is ideally suited to switching fre- quencies which cause prob- lems to bipolar and power mos devices. Products such as SGS"s Fastswitch range provide rug- ged operation at very high swi...