Patent ID: 8704554

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a conductivity-controlled device having a control terminal and having a first terminal provided to connect to a source, the connection between the first terminal and the source being characterized by a connection impedance, the conductivity-controlled device being characterized by a control region wherein the rate-of-change of voltage at the first terminal is a function of a signal at the control terminal; a transient-suppression controller for turning off the conductivity-controlled device adapted to provide to the control terminal (a) a first control signal to transition the conductivity-controlled device from a high conductivity state towards a non-conductive state, and (b) a second control signal in response to the transient-suppression controller sensing that the conductivity-controlled device is at or near a predetermined area of the control region; wherein the second control signal is smaller in magnitude than the first control signal and scaled to limit the rate-of-change of voltage at the first terminal as the conductivity-controlled device transitions to the non-conductive state.