TOPIC 4

Thyristors
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

The second best time is now”

-Chinese Proverb

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

1. Explain the application of Diac, Triac, SCR and IGBT in industrial and power electronics based on its operating
principle
2. Explain with the aid of diagram the principle of operation of using an SCR for a light dimmer

DISCUSSION
Thyristors

 Thyristors are an interesting class of semiconductor devices. They share similar characteristics with other solid-
state components made from silicon, like diodes and transistors. Therefore, distinguishing thyristors from diodes
and transistors could be difficult. To add to the difficulty, there are different types of thyristors available on the
market.
 It is a multi-layer semiconductor device, hence the “silicon” part of its name. It requires a gate signal to turn it
“ON”, the “controlled” part of the name and once “ON” it behaves like a rectifying diode, the “rectifier” part of
the name. In fact the circuit symbol for the thyristor suggests that this device acts like a controlled rectifying
diode.
 However, unlike the junction diode which is a two layer ( P-N ) semiconductor device, or the commonly used
bipolar transistor which is a three layer ( P-N-P, or N-P-N ) switching device, the Thyristor is a four layer ( P-N-P-N
) semiconductor device that contains three PN junctions in series, and is represented by the symbol as shown.
 Like the diode, the Thyristor is a unidirectional device, that is it will only conduct current in one direction only,
but unlike a diode, the thyristor can be made to operate as either an open-circuit switch or as a rectifying diode
depending upon how the thyristors gate is triggered. In other words, thyristors can operate only in the switching
mode and cannot be used for amplification.
 The silicon controlled rectifier SCR, is one of several power semiconductor devices along with Triacs (Triode
AC’s), Diacs (Diode AC’s) and UJT’s (Unijunction Transistor) that are all capable of acting like very fast solid state
AC switches for controlling large AC voltages and currents. So for the Electronics student this makes these very
handy solid state devices for controlling AC motors, lamps and for phase control.
Thyristor Symbol
 The thyristor is a three-terminal device labelled: “Anode”, “Cathode” and “Gate” and consisting of three PN
junctions which can be switched “ON” and “OFF” at an extremely fast rate, or it can be switched “ON” for
variable lengths of time during half cycles to deliver a selected amount of power to a load. The operation of the
 thyristor can be best explained by assuming it to be made up of two transistors connected back-to-back as a pair
of complementary regenerative switches as shown.

A Thyristors Two Transistor Analogy

 The two transistor equivalent circuit shows that the collector current of the NPN transistor TR2 feeds directly
into the base of the PNP transistor TR1, while the collector current of TR1 feeds into the base of TR2. These two
inter-connected transistors rely upon each other for conduction as each transistor gets its base-emitter current
from the other’s collector-emitter current. So until one of the transistors is given some base current nothing can
happen even if an Anode-to-Cathode voltage is present.
 When the thyristors Anode terminal is negative with respect to the Cathode, the centre N-P junction is forward
biased, but the two outer P-N junctions are reversed biased and it behaves very much like an ordinary diode.
Therefore a thyristor blocks the flow of reverse current until at some high voltage level the breakdown voltage
point of the two outer junctions is exceeded and the thyristor conducts without the application of a Gate signal.
 This is an important negative characteristic of the thyristor, as Thyristors can be unintentionally triggered into
conduction by a reverse over-voltage as well as high temperature or a rapidly rising dv/dt voltage such as a
spike.
 If the Anode terminal is made positive with respect to the Cathode, the two outer P-N junctions are now
forward biased but the centre N-P junction is reverse biased. Therefore forward current is also blocked. If a
positive current is injected into the base of the NPN transistor TR2, the resulting collector current flows in the
base of transistor TR1. This in turn causes a collector current to flow in the PNP transistor, TR1 which increases
the base current of TR2 and so on.
 Very rapidly the two transistors force each other to conduct to saturation as they are connected in a
regenerative feedback loop that can not stop. Once triggered into conduction, the current flowing through the
device between the Anode and the Cathode is limited only by the resistance of the external circuit as the
forward resistance of the device when conducting can be very low at less than 1Ω so the voltage drop across it
and power loss is also low.
  Then we can see that a thyristor blocks current in both directions of an AC supply in its “OFF” state and can be
turned “ON” and made to act like a normal rectifying diode by the application of a positive current to the base of
transistor, TR2 which for a silicon controlled rectifier is called the “Gate” terminal.
Thyristor operation

In operation, the thyristor / SCR has three states in which it can be at any given time:

 Reverse blocking:   In this mode or state the thyristor blocks the current in the
same way as that of a reverse biased diode. The thyristor / SCR can only conduct in
one direction and blocks in the reverse direction.

In this mode the cathode is made positive with respect to anode with switch S open.
Junction J1 and J3 are reversed biased and J2 is forward biased. When reverse
voltage applied across Thyristor (should be less than V BR), the device offers a high
impedance in the reverse direction. Therefore, Thyristor treated as open switch in
the reverse blocking mode. V BR is the reverse breakdown voltage where the
avalanche occurs, if voltage exceeds VBR may cause to Thyristor damage.

 Forward blocking:   In this mode or state the thyristor operation is such that it
blocks forward current conduction that would normally be carried by a forward biased
diode. In this state the thyristor / SCR is not in its “turn-on” state as the gate has not
fired.

When anode is made positive with respect to cathode, with gate switch open. Thyristor is
said to be forward biased, junction J1 and J3 are forward biased and J2 is reversed biased
as you can see in figure. In this mode, a small current flows called forward leakage
current, as the forward leakage current is small and not enough to trigger the SCR.
Therefore, SCR is treated as open switch even in forward blocking mode.

 Forward conducting:   As the forward voltage is increased with gate circuit remain open, an avalanche occurs at
junction J2 and SCR comes into conduction mode. We can turn ON the SCR at any moment by giving a positive gate
pulse between gate and cathode or by a forward breakover voltage across anode and cathode of the Thyristor.

In this mode the thyristor / SCR has been triggered into conduction by a current on the gate. It will remain
conducting regardless of the state of the gate. Current only needs to be applied to the gate to fire the thyristor / SCR,
and it will remain conducting. The device will stop conducting when the forward current drops below a threshold
value known as the "holding current."

Applications of Thyristor
 Thyristors are mainly used where high currents and voltages are involved, and are often used to control alternating
currents, where the change of polarity of the current causes the device to switch off automatically, referred to as
"zero cross" operation. The device can be said to operate synchronously; being that, once the device is triggered, it
conducts current in phase with the voltage applied over its cathode to anode junction with no further gate
modulation being required, i.e., the device is biased fully on. This is not to be confused with asymmetrical
operation, as the output is unidirectional, flowing only from cathode to anode, and so is asymmetrical in nature.
 Thyristors can be used as the control elements for phase angle triggered controllers, also known as phase fired
controllers.
 They can also be found in power supplies for digital circuits, where they are used as a sort of "enhanced circuit
breaker" to prevent a failure in the power supply from damaging downstream components. A thyristor is used in
conjunction with a Zener diode attached to its gate, and if the output voltage of the supply rises above the Zener
voltage, the thyristor will conduct and short-circuit the power supply output to ground (in general also tripping an
upstream breaker or fuse). This kind of protection circuit is known as a crowbar, and has the advantage over a
standard circuit breaker or fuse in that it creates a high-conductance path to ground for the damaging supply
voltage and potentially for stored energy in the system being powered.
 The first large-scale application of thyristors, with associated triggering diac, in consumer products related to
stabilized power supplies within color television receivers in the early 1970s. The stabilized high voltage DC supply
for the receiver was obtained by moving the switching point of the thyristor device up and down the falling slope of
the positive going half of the AC supply input (if the rising slope was used the output voltage would always rise
towards the peak input voltage when the device was triggered and thus defeat the aim of regulation). The precise
switching point was determined by the load on the DC output supply, as well as AC input fluctuations.
 Thyristors have been used for decades as light dimmers in television, motion pictures, and theater, where they
replaced inferior technologies such as autotransformers and rheostats. They have also been used in photography as
a critical part of flashes (strobes).

TYPES

 ACS
 ACST
 AGT – Anode Gate Thyristor – A thyristor with gate on n-type layer near to the anode
 ASCR – Asymmetrical SCR
 BCT – Bidirectional Control Thyristor – A bidirectional switching device containing two thyristor structures
with separate gate contacts
 BOD – Breakover Diode – A gateless thyristor triggered by avalanche current
 DIAC – Bidirectional trigger device
 Dynistor – Unidirectional switching device
 Shockley diode – Unidirectional trigger and switching device
 SIDAC – Bidirectional switching device
 Trisil, SIDACtor – Bidirectional protection devices
 BRT – Base Resistance Controlled Thyristor
 ETO – Emitter Turn-Off Thyristor[9]
 GTO – Gate Turn-Off thyristor
 DB-GTO – Distributed buffer gate turn-off thyristor
 MA-GTO – Modified anode gate turn-off thyristor
 IGCT – Integrated gate-commutated thyristor
 Ignitor – Spark generators for fire-lighter ckts
 LASCR – Light-activated SCR, or LTT – light-triggered thyristor
 LASS – light-activated semiconducting switch
 MCT – MOSFET Controlled Thyristor – It contains two additional FET structures for on/off control.
 CSMT or MCS – MOS composite static induction thyristor
 PUT or PUJT – Programmable Unijunction Transistor – A thyristor with gate on n-type layer near to the
anode used as a functional replacement for unijunction transistor
 RCT – Reverse Conducting Thyristor
 SCS – Silicon Controlled Switch or Thyristor Tetrode – A thyristor with both cathode and anode gates
 SCR – Silicon Controlled Rectifier
 SITh – Static Induction Thyristor, or FCTh – Field Controlled Thyristor – containing a gate structure that can
shut down anode current flow.
 TRIAC – Triode for Alternating Current – A bidirectional switching device containing two thyristor structures
with common gate contact
 Quadrac – special type of thyristor which combines a DIAC and a TRIAC into a single package.
Summary
1. Silicon Controlled Rectifiers known commonly as Thyristors are three-junction PNPN semiconductor devices
which can be regarded as two inter-connected transistors that can be used in the switching of heavy electrical
loads. They can be latched-“ON” by a single pulse of positive current applied to their Gate terminal and will
remain “ON” indefinitely until the Anode to Cathode current falls below their minimum latching level.

2. Static Characteristics of a Thyristor

 Thyristors are semiconductor devices that can operate only in the switching mode.
 Thyristor are current operated devices, a small Gate current controls a larger Anode current.
 Conducts current only when forward biased and triggering current applied to the Gate.
 The thyristor acts like a rectifying diode once it is triggered “ON”.
 Anode current must be greater than holding current to maintain conduction.
 Blocks current flow when reverse biased, no matter if Gate current is applied.
 Once triggered “ON”, will be latched “ON” conducting even when a gate current is no longer applied
providing Anode current is above latching current.
3. Thyristors are high speed switches that can be used to replace electromechanical relays in many circuits as they
have no moving parts, no contact arcing or suffer from corrosion or dirt. But in addition to simply switching large
currents “ON” and “OFF”, thyristors can be made to control the mean value of an AC load current without
dissipating large amounts of power. A good example of thyristor power control is in the control of electric
lighting, heaters and motor speed.

REFERENCES:

1.https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/power/thyristor.html
2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyristor#:~:text=Thyristors%20may%20be%20used%20in,phase%2Dcontrol%20circuits
%2C%20etc.
3. https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/electronic_components/scr/what-is-a-thyristor.php