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Thyristor

A thyristor is a solid-state semiconductor device composed of alternating layers of N-type and P-type materials that acts as a bistable switch. It conducts current when its gate receives a pulse, and will continue conducting as long as it remains forward biased. Thyristors include silicon controlled rectifiers and other devices used in applications like steady hand games, alarm systems, and more where the thyristor can latch a circuit on until power is turned off.

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earl pannila
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120 views2 pages

Thyristor

A thyristor is a solid-state semiconductor device composed of alternating layers of N-type and P-type materials that acts as a bistable switch. It conducts current when its gate receives a pulse, and will continue conducting as long as it remains forward biased. Thyristors include silicon controlled rectifiers and other devices used in applications like steady hand games, alarm systems, and more where the thyristor can latch a circuit on until power is turned off.

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earl pannila
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Thyristor (SCR)

A Thyristor (silicon controlled rectifier or


SCR) is a little like a transistor. When a
small current flows into the GATE (G), this
allows a larger current to flow from the
ANODE (A) to the CATHODE (C). Even
when the current into the gate stops the
thyristor continues to allow current to flow
from anode to cathode. It latches on. A
thyristor is a solid-state semiconductor
device with four layers of alternating N and
P-type material. They act as bistable
switches, conducting when their gate
receives a current pulse, and continue to conduct while they are forward biased (that is, while the
voltage across the device is not reversed).

In deep consideration thyristors are a larger set of devices with at least four layers of alternating
N and P-type material, including,

 Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)


 Gate turn-off thyristor (GTO)
 Triode AC switch (TRIAC)
 Static induction thyristor (SITh)
 MOS Controlled Thyristor (MCT)
 Distributed Buffer - Gate Turn-off Thyristor (DB-GTO)
 Integrated gate commutated thyristor (IGCT)
 MOS composite static induction thyristor/CSMT
The circuit opposite represents a steady hand game which consists of a wire loop that has to be
moved around a wire course without touching it. If the wire course is touched by the loop,
current flows into the 'gate' of the thyristor and the buzzer sounds.
The buzzer will continue to sound after the loop has touched the wire course. This is due to the
thyristor which once activated cannot be deactivated until all power is turned off.
This type of circuit is also known as a ‘latching circuit’

A typical Application – Alarm System

The circuit below is an alarm circuit and it incorporates a thyristor. When the house holder
leaves he/she turns on the master power switch and the exit switch. If an intruder steps on the
pressure pad the alarm sounds and ‘latches’ on (stays on) because of the thyristor.

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