A 4.5 kV 3000 A high-power reverse conducting gate-turn-off (GTO) thyristor has been developed. The key aspects of the design are electrical separation between the GTO and the diode, the use of a p-i-n junction structure, and optimization of the anode shorting and the n/sup +/ buffer concentration. The electrical characteristics of the device, which achieves 4.5 kV blocking voltage, 3000 A turn-off current and low switching loss are reported.