Lecture Note

4
Thyristor Family PSDs

Prepared by
Dr. Oday A Ahmed
Website: https://odayahmeduot.wordpress.com
Email: [email protected]

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Lecture Note 4: Thyristor Family PSDs
Instructure: Dr. Oday A Ahmed

Contents of this Lecture:

► SCR Operation and Characteristics
► TRIAC Operation and Characteristics
► DIAC Operation and Characteristics
► GTO Operation and Characteristics

What is a Thyristor?
A thyristor is the most important type of power semiconductor devices. They are
extensively used in power electronic circuits. They are operated as bi-stable
switches from non-conducting to conducting state.

A thyristor is a four layer, semiconductor of p-n-p-n structure with three p-n

junctions. It has three terminals, the anode, cathode and the gate. The word
thyristor is coined from thyratron and transistor. It was invented in the year 1957
at Bell Labs. The Different types of Thyristors are
o SCR: silicon-controlled rectifiers
o GTO: Gate Turnoff Thyristor
o TRIAC: Triode on AC

SCR
Thyristor SCR is a general class of a four-layer PNPN semiconducting device, as
shown below:

► SCRs have the highest power handling capability. They have a rating of
1200V / 1500A with switching frequencies ranging from 1 KHz to 20 KHz.

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► Used as a latching switch that can be turned on by the control terminal but
cannot be turned off by the gate.

The structure of the Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR also called thyristor)
consists of variously doped P and N conducting layers with three external
connections named anode A, cathode K and gate G. It can be represented as two
series power diodes:

A K

SCR Construction and Operation

The construction of SCR shows that the gate terminal is kept nearer the cathode.
The approximate thickness of each layer and doping densities are as indicated in
the Fig.4.2. In terms of their lateral dimensions, Thyristors are the largest
semiconductor devices made. A complete silicon wafer as large as ten centimeters
in diameter may be used to make a single high power thyristor.

Fig.4.2 Structure of a generic thyristor

The operation of SCR can best be understood by thinking of its internal PNPN
structure as a two-transistor arrangement as shown below. The upper PNP layers

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act as a transistor, Q1, and the lower NPN layers act as a transistor, Q2. Note that
the two middle layers are "shared”.

 When the gate current ΙG is zero, the device is in the off state. In this state,
the very high resistance between the anode and cathode can be
approximated by an open switch.
 When ΙG is zero, the leakage current from Q1 is not enough to switch ON
Q2.
 When a positive pulse of current (trigger) is applied to the gate, both
transistors turn on (the anode must be more positive than the cathode). This
action is shown in Figure below.
o ΙB2 turns on Q2, providing a path for ΙC2 = ΙB1 into the Q2 collector,
thus turning on Q1. Where, ΙC2 =hfe ΙB2, thus ΙC2> ΙB2
o The collector current ΙC1 of Q1 provides additional base current ΙB2
for Q2 (IB2 will increase results in increasing in IC2 which leads to
increases in IB1 and ΙC2) so that Q2 stays in conduction after the trigger
pulse is removed from the gate. This operation is called positive
feedback.
o By this regenerative action, Q2 sustains the saturated conduction of
Q1 by providing a path for ΙB1; in turn, Q1 sustains the saturated
conduction of Q2 by providing ΙB2. Thus, the device stays on
(latches) once it is triggered ON, on the condition the I A>IAlatching.
o In this state, the very low resistance between the anode and cathode
can be approximated by a closed switch.

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V-I characteristics of a thyristor

An elementary circuit diagram for obtaining static I-V characteristics of a
thyristor is shown in Fig.4.3. The anode and cathode are connected to main
source through the load. The gate and cathode are fed from a source E s which
provides positive gate current from gate to cathode. A typical V-I characteristics
of a thyristor is shown Fig.4.3b.

(a)

(b)

Fig.4.3
From SCR characteristic reveals that a thyristor has three basic modes of
operation:
1) Reverse blocking mode:
In this mode, J1 and J3 are reverse biased, and
junction J2 is forward biased (Why?). The SCR
doesn’t conduct due to this reverse bias. A very
small current flows from cathode to anode. This
current is called reverse leakage current of the
SCR. This mode is called reverse blocking mode.
If the reverse voltage is increased, then at a critical breakdown
level, called reverse breakdown voltage VBR. An avalanche
occurs at J1 and J3 and the reverse current increases rapidly. A
large current associated with VBR gives rise to more losses in the
SCR. This may lead to thyristor damage as the junction
temperature may exceed its permissible temperature rise. It

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should, therefore, be ensured that maximum working reverse voltage across a

thyristor does not exceed VBB.
2) Forward blocking Mode:
The SCR is said to be forward when anode
is made positive with respect to cathode.
Due to this forward bias, the junctions J1
and J3 are forwards biased and J2 is
revers biased. Hence the forward voltage
is to be hold by junction J2. A very small
current flow in this region. This current
called forward leakage current. If the
forward voltage>breakover voltage, the
SCR goes from forward blocking mode to
forward conduction mode.
3) Forward Conduction Mode:
When anode to cathode forward voltage is increased with gate circuit open,
reverse biased junction J2 will have an avalanche breakdown at a voltage called
forward breakover voltage VBO. After this breakdown, thyristor gets turned on.
This method is not recommended (Why?), a positive gate pulse between gate and
cathode can be used to turn it on at lower forward voltage, as shown in Figure
below:

Latching Current IL
This is the minimum anode current required to maintain the thyristor in the on-
state immediately after a thyristor has been turned on and the gate signal has been

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removed. If a gate current, greater than the threshold gate current is applied until
the anode current is greater than the latching current IL then the thyristor will be
turned on or triggered.

Holding Current IH
To turn off a thyristor, the forward anode current must be reduced below its
holding current for a sufficient time for mobile charge carriers to vacate the
junction. If the anode current is not maintained below IH for long enough, the
thyristor will not have returned to the fully blocking state by the time the anode-
to-cathode voltage rises again. It might then return to the conducting state without
an externally applied gate current.

Example 1: The SCR shown has the latching current of 20mA and is fired by the
pulse of width 50µs. Determine whether the SCR triggers or not.

Solution:
When the SCR T1 is turned on, a step of
voltage is applied to the RL load. Thus,
the current via RL can be obtained as:
𝑑𝑖(𝑡)
𝑉𝑠 = 𝑖 (𝑡)𝑅 − 𝐿
𝑑𝑡
By applying Laplace transform,

𝑉𝑠 = 𝐼𝑠 𝑅 − 𝐿𝑠𝐼𝑠
Then,
𝑉𝑠⁄
𝑉𝑠 𝑅
𝐼𝑠 = =
𝐿
𝑅 − 𝐿𝑠 (1 − ⁄ 𝑠)
𝑅
By applying inverse Laplace transform, i(t) can be obtained as:

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𝑉𝑠 𝑅
𝑖(𝑡) = (1 − 𝑒 −𝑡 )
𝑅 𝐿
Here observe that the SCR will be latched if i(t) is greater than latching current
when gate triggering pulse is removed after 50µsec. Hence,
100 20
−50×10−6 ×0.5
𝑖(𝑡) = (1 − 𝑒 ) = 10𝑚𝐴
20
Hence the SCE will not be triggered since:

𝑖(𝑡) = 10𝑚𝐴 < 𝐼𝐿 = 20𝑚𝐴

Example 2: A SCR is connected in series with a 0.5H inductor and 20Ω

resistance. A 100V DC voltage is applied to this circuit. If the latching current is
4mA, find the minimum width of the gate trigger pulse required to properly turn-
on the SCR.

Solution:
The equivalent circuit is shown aside:

𝐼𝐿 = 4𝑚𝐴
𝑉𝑠 𝑅
𝑖(𝑡) = (1 − 𝑒 −𝑡 )
𝑅 𝐿
When 𝑖(𝑡) is equal to latching current 𝐼𝐿 , SCR must be turned ON. Hence, if
𝑖(𝑡) = 𝐼𝐿
𝑉𝑠 𝑅
𝐼𝐿 = (1 − 𝑒 −𝑡 )
𝑅 𝐿
100 20
4×10−3 = (1 − 𝑒 −𝑡 )
20 0.5
Solving above equation by taking the ln of two sides, the required width to trigger
the SCR is equal to:𝑡 = 20𝜇𝑠𝑒𝑐

Thyristor Turn ON
Thermal Turn on: If the temperature of the thyristor is high, there will be an
increase in charge carriers which would increase the leakage current. This would
cause an increase in α1 & α2 and the thyristor may turn on. This type of turn on
may cause thermal run away and is usually avoided.

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Light: If light be allowed to fall on the junctions of a

thyristor, charge carrier concentration would increase
which may turn on the SCR. SCRs are turned on by
allowing light to strike the silicon wafer. When the
intensity of light becomes more than a normal value, SCR
starts conducting. The wavelength of the light waves can
be guided by an optic fiber. This type of SCR is called
Activated Silicon Controlled Rectifier (LASCR) and are
built with both light and gate triggering arrangement.

High Voltage Triggering: This is triggering without application of gate voltage

with only application of a large voltage across the anode-cathode such that it is
greater than the forward breakdown voltage VBO . This type of turn on is
destructive and should be avoided.

Gate Triggering: Gate triggering is the method practically employed to turn-on

the thyristor.

Instead of applying a continuous (DC) gate drive, the

pulsed gate drive is used. The gate voltage and current
are applied in the form of high frequency pulses. The
frequency of these pulses is up to l0 kHz. Hence, the
width of the pulse can be up to 100 microseconds. The
pulsed gate drive is applied for following reasons
(advantages):

i) The thyristor has small turn-on time i.e. up to 5

microseconds. Hence, a pulse of gate drive is sufficient
to turn-on the thyristor.

ii) Once thyristor turns-on, there is no need of gate drive. Hence, gate drive in the
form of pulses is suitable.

iii) The DC gate voltage and current increases losses in the thyristor. Pulsed gate
drive has reduced losses.

iv) The pulsed gate drive can be easily passed

through isolation transformers to isolate
thyristor and trigger circuit.

Usually, a train of pulses is used rather than

single pulse. This is to insure the SCR turned-on. If the first pulse fails to turn on

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the SCR, then the second and successive pluses are available to turn on the SCR.
This is can be clarified as shown below:

Fig.7

Requirement of Gate Drive

The gate drive has to satisfy the following requirements:

i) The maximum gate power should not be exceeded by gate drive; otherwise
thyristor will be damaged.

ii) The gate voltage and current should be within the limits specified by gate
characteristics (as shown below) for successful turn-on.

Ig(max) is the maximum gate current that

can flow through the thyristor without
damaging it. Similarly, Vg(max) is the
maximum gate voltage to be applied.
Similarly, Vg(min) and Ig(min) are
minimum gate voltage and current,
below which thyristor will not be
turned-on. Hence to turn-on the
thyristor successfully the gate current
and voltage should be

Ig(min) < Ig < Ig(max)

Vg (min) < Vg < Vg(max)

The gate characteristic also shows the curve for constant gate power (P g). Thus,
for reliable turn-on, the (Vg, Ig) point must lie in the shaded area. It turns-on
thyristor successfully. Note that any spurious voltage/current spikes at the gate
must be less than Vg(min) and Ig(min) to avoid false triggering of the thyristor.

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iii) The gate drive should be preferably pulsed.

In case of pulsed drive the following relation
must be satisfied:

(Maximum gate power (Pgmax) x pulse width (Tp)) x (Pulse frequency (f)) ≤
Allowable average gate power (Pav),

iv) The width of the pulse should be sufficient to turn-on the thyristor successfully
TP>>tON.

v) The gate drive should be isolated electrically from the thyristor. This avoids
any damage to the trigger circuit if in case thyristor is damaged.

vi) The gate drive should not exceed permissible negative gate to cathode voltage,
otherwise the thyristor is damaged.

vii) The gate drive circuit should not sink current out of the thyristor after turn-
on.

Example 3: A SCR has a linearized gate-cathode characteristic of slope 25 V/A.

A gate current of 200mA turns the thyristor on in 16µs. The gate source voltage
is 10V. The manufacturer’s average maximum power for the gate is 400mW.
Pulse firing is used. Calculate:
(a) the value of the gate series resistance;
(b) the gate power dissipation during turn-on;
(c) the frequency of the gate pulses.

Solution
a) The total gate resistance included the
internal gate resistance is
RG=VGC/IG=10/0.2=50Ω.

From gate-cathode characteristic of SCR,

the internal gate resistance rG is: 25Ω

Thus, the required gate series resistance is

50-25=25 Ω

b) PG=𝐼𝐺2 𝑟𝐺 =1W
𝑃𝐺_𝑎𝑣𝑔 0.4
c) 𝑓 = 𝑡𝑜𝑛 = = 25𝑘𝐻𝑧
𝑃𝐺 1×16×10−6

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Example 4: The range of spread of gate-cathode characteristics for a certain

thyristor can be linearized to between
15V/A and 10V/A. The
manufacturer's data gives the
maximum gate power dissipation as
5W. Sketch the characteristic up to
Vcc=15V and Ic = 1.5A, and insert the
PG(max av) line. With the gate firing
circuit as shown in Fig. aside, a 1:1
isolating transformer, Vp amplitude of
20V, and Rl = R2 = 20Ω, determine the possible range of VGC and IG.

Solution

The characteristic is sketched in Fig

aside

Load line AB can be inserted.

This gives an operating region between C and D, i.e. about 5-7V for VGC and
0.4-0.5A for IG.

dv/dt Triggering: Under transient

conditions, the capacitances of the p-n
junction will influence the characteristics
of a thyristor. If the thyristor is in the
blocking state, a rapidly rising voltage
applied across the device would cause a
high current to flow through the device
resulting in turn-on. If ij2 is the current
through the junction j2 and Cj2 is the
junction capacitance and Vj2 is the voltage
across j2, then

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From the above equation, we see that if dv/dt is large, ij2 will be large. A high
value of charging current may damage the thyristor and the device must be
protected against high dv/dt. The manufacturers specify the allowable dv/dt.

SCR Turn OFF Methods

To turn fully off the SCR, the anode current must be less than holding current that
can be achieved through two method:

a) By using a resistor in the way if the SCR

Hysteresis Loop
To turn off the SCR, R should be increase until anode current reach to the holding
current. Hence, the turn off and on can be clarified further as shown in the
hysteresis loop.

b) By using commutation circuits: commutation circuit is classified into

natural and forced commutation

Note: if DC applied to SCR, the SCR can turn off either reduce current as shown
in a or by using forced commutation

Natural Commutation: if the AC source is applied to

SCR, then this is called natural commutation R
(commutation means the transfer from on period to the
off period).

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Forced Commutation: The process of turning OFF a thyristor or SCR by using

external circuits is known as Forced Commutation. This method
of commutation is used for D.C. Commutation.

Triac
SCR can be used to control lamps, motors, or heaters etc. However, one of the
problems of using a SCR for controlling such circuits is that like a diode, the
“SCR” is a unidirectional device, meaning that it passes current in one direction
only, from Anode to Cathode.

Circuits like shown below

can be used to obtain full-
wave power control in two-
directions but this increases
both the complexity and
number of components used
in the switching circuit.

a “Triode AC Switch”
or Triac for short which is also a member of the thyristor family that be used as
a solid-state power switching device but more importantly it is a “bidirectional”
device.

In other words, a Triac can be triggered into conduction by both positive and
negative voltages applied to its Anode and with both positive and negative trigger
pulses applied to its Gate terminal making it a two-quadrant switching Gate
controlled device.

A Triac behaves just like two conventional thyristors connected together in

inverse parallel (back-to-back) with respect to each other and because of this

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arrangement the two thyristors share a common Gate terminal all within a
single three-terminal package.

Mode_1 Mode_2

Mode_3 Mode_4

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Four modes in which a Triac can be operated are shown using the Triacs I-V
characteristics curves.
 Ι + Mode = MT2 current positive (+ve), Gate current positive (+ve)
 Ι – Mode = MT2 current positive (+ve), Gate current negative (-ve)
 ΙΙΙ + Mode = MT2 current negative (-ve), Gate current positive (+ve)
 ΙΙΙ – Mode = MT2 current negative (-ve), Gate current negative (-ve)

In Quadrant Ι, the Triac is usually triggered into conduction by a positive gate

current, labelled above as mode Ι+. But it can also be triggered by a negative gate
current, mode Ι–.

Similarly, in Quadrant ΙΙΙ, triggering with a negative gate current, –ΙG is also
common, mode ΙΙΙ– along with mode ΙΙΙ+. Modes Ι– and ΙΙΙ+ are, however, less
sensitive configurations requiring a greater gate current to cause triggering than
the more common Triac triggering modes of Ι+ and ΙΙΙ–.

Diac
The DIAC is a diode that conducts electrical current only after its
breakover voltage, VBO, has been reached momentarily. When breakdown
occurs, the diode enters a region of negative dynamic resistance, leading to a
decrease in the voltage drop across the diode and, usually, a sharp increase in
current through the diode. The diode remains in conduction until the current
through it drops below a value characteristic for the device, called the holding
current, IH. Below this value, the diode switches back to its high-resistance, non-

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conducting state. This behavior is bidirectional, meaning typically the same for
both directions of current. Most DIACs have a three-layer structure with
breakover voltage of approximately 30 V.

Triac and Diac Applications

A common type of Triac switching circuit
uses phase control to vary the amount of
voltage, and therefore power applied to a
load, in this case a motor, for both the
positive and negative halves of the input
waveform. This type of AC motor speed
control gives a fully variable and linear control
because the voltage can be adjusted from zero to
the full applied voltage as shown.

This basic phase triggering circuit uses the Triac

in series with the motor across an AC sinusoidal
supply. The variable resistor, VR1 is used to
control the amount of phase shift on the gate of
the Triac which in turn controls the amount of voltage applied to the motor
by turning it ON at different times during the AC cycle.
The Triac’s triggering voltage is derived from the VR1 – C1 combination via
the Diac (The diac is a bidirectional semiconductor device that helps provide a
sharp trigger current pulse to fully turn-ON the triac).
At the start of each cycle, C1 charges up via the variable resistor, VR1. This
continues until the voltage across C1 is sufficient to trigger the diac into
conduction which in turn allows capacitor, C1 to discharge into the gate of the

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Triac turning it “ON”. Once the Triac is triggered into conduction and saturates,
it effectively shorts out the gate triggering phase control circuit connected in
parallel across it and the Triac takes control for the remainder of the half-cycle.
As we have seen above, the Triac turns-OFF automatically at the end of the half-
cycle and the VR1 – C1 triggering process starts again on the next half cycle.

GTO
A gate turn-off thyristor (GTO) is a thyristor which is
turned on or off by the gate. Like a SCR, GTO can be
triggered by into the conducting state by a pulse of
positive gate current. However, unlike the SCR, a pulse
of negative current at the gate terminal can cause its turn-
off. This feature lead to use it of more compact inverter
and chopper circuits since no commutation circuits are
required.

There are three significant differences between a GTO and a conventional

thyristor.

1- The gate and cathode structures are highly interdigitated, with various
types of geometric forms being used to layout the gates and cathodes. The
basic goal is to maximize the periphery of the cathode and minimize the
distance from the gate to the centre of a cathode region.
2- The cathode areas are usually formed by etching away the silicon
surrounding the cathodes so that they
appear as islands or mesas.
3- The n+ regions are overlaid with the same
metallization that contacts the p-type anode
resulting in a so-called anode short. The
anode-short structure is used to speed up
the turn-off of the GTO.

The i-v characteristic of a GTO, as shown in the

figure below, in the forward direction is identical
to that of a conventional thyristor. However, in the
reverse direction, the GTO has virtually no
blocking capability because of the anode-short
structure. The only junction that blocks in the reverse direction is junction J3, and
it has a rather low breakdown voltage (20-30 V typically) because of the large
doping densities on both sides of the junction.

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