To meet the ever-increasing demand for energy dense, compact and lightweight power inverters, a fundamentally different approach must be taken in energy conversion. Inspired by the signal-level digital to analog conversion, the goal of this work is to introduce and demonstrate a solid-state multi-terminal selector switch, capable of switching between different voltages via a single reference electrode, practically minimizing the signal and power isolation requirements that plague today’s multi-level inverter structures and thus opening the road for truly N-level capable and scalable power converters.

Inverter surge current capability has become increasingly more important in today’s grid infrastructure as synchronous generation is being replaced by inverter-based resources. Grid strength challenges such as limited voltage support and control instabilities have risen due to the surge current boundaries imposed by the thermal limitations of the conventional semiconductors used in inverters. The goal of this paper is to investigate and compare the surge current robustness of various discrete power transistor technologies, such that the capabilities of commercial inverters can be pushed further to facilitate a seamless transition to increased integration of renewable energy sources