Lecture # 3

Thyristors
Shahid Iqbal
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
Email: shahidsidu@hotmail.com
 Introduction
Thyristors are four-layer PNPN power semiconductor
devices with three PN junctions and three terminals
(anode, cathode and gate).
They are pulse-triggered devices, used as bistable
switches and considered as nearly the ideal switches.
They are latching devices.
They are mainly designed for power control
applications.
Advantages: high-current, -voltage and -power
capability, low on-state voltage drop and requiring very
low triggering power.
Disadvantage: low switching frequencies and times
except MCTs.
 Introduction
Hence, they can convert and control large amounts
of power in AC or DC systems while using very low
power for control.

Thyristors family: SCRs, TRIACs, GTOs, MCTs,

etc.

Applications: phase-controlled rectifiers, AC

voltage controllers, regulated power supplies,
static switches, choppers, inverters,
cycloconverters, heaters, lighting, and motor
control.
 Common characteristics
(i) Reverse blocking voltage (VBR): is equal to forward
blocking voltage except asymmetric GTOs which
have low VBR (20 30 V).
(ii) Conduction: Forward direction only except TRIACs.
(iii) Control: current triggered except MCTs is voltage
controlled devices
(iv) Turn-off : GTOs & MCTs via gate
: TRIACs & SCR line or forced commutation
(v) Continuous gate current/voltage during conduction:
SCRs and TRIACs dont require while it is
recommended for GTOs and MCTS.
 Types of Thyristors
Phase controlled Thyristors (SCRs)
Bidirectional Phase-controlled Thyristors (BCTs)
Fast Switching Asymmetrical Thyristors (ASCRs)
Light Activated Silicon controlled Thyristors (LASCRs)
Bidirectional Triode Thyristors (TRIACs)
Reverse Conducting Thyristors (RCTs)
Gate turn Off Thyristors (GTOs)
FET controlled Thyristors (FET-CTHs)
MOS-Turn OFF Thyristors (MTOs)
MOS-Controlled Thyristors (MCTs)
Emitter Turn of Thyristors (ETOs)
Integrated gate Commutation Thyristors (IGCTs)
Static Induction Thyristors (SITHs)
 Thyristors (SCR)

SCRs (Silicon Controlled Rectifiers) are one of

the oldest types of solid-state power device
History:
Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1956,
General Electric Research Laboratories in 1957;
Commercial thyristor by GE in 1958).
It still have the highest power-handling capability
(more than, 7 kV, 4 kA).
They are among the largest semiconductor devices
made (10 cm diameter).
 Thyristors (SCR)
An SCR is a four layer semiconductor device of
PNPN structure with three PN junctions.
It has three terminals (Anode, Cathode and Gate)
And three PN junctions, J1, J2 and J3
A
Anode IA2 IA1 A
iA J1
p
+ Q1 J1
n pnp
vAK G J2
J2 npn p
G J3
Gate - Q2 n
IG
Cathode J3
K
iG K

Thyristor Symbol Two-transistor model Basic pnpn structure

 Thyristors (SCR)
Structure of SCR
For symmetric voltage blocking
Junction J2 block forward
A
voltage.

p+ Junction J1 and J3 block

p
J1 the reverse voltage.
n-
However, J3 has a low
J2 p
breakdown voltage
J3 n+ n+ (because of heavy
G K doping density on both
Cathode shorts sides).

The cathode shorts in SCR structure are On state voltage

used to increase dvAK/dt capability drop = 1 to 3 V
 Thyristors (SCR)
Cross-section of Thyristor
 I-V Characteristics of SCR

iA Forward on-state
IL iG increase i
IBO Ideal
iG2 iG1 iG= 0
VF~ 0
IH
VRWM RB
IR~ 0 FB v

VH VBO vAK
Reverse blocking Forward blocking If IA < IH, the thyristor will
be in the blocking state.
IL= the DC IA above which the gate signal IH= min IA ( - mA) to
can be withdrawn and device stays on. maintain in ON state
 Switching Characteristics

Self-trigger if VAK > VBO

Once it is ON, VAK between 1 and 3V,
it remains latched in ON state (IA > IL)
It cant be switched off by either by
AC line voltage or commutation
circuit
Only turn off if IA
- goes negative
- diverted to another circuitry
 Methods to Turn On a Thyristor
A thyristor can be triggered on in 3 ways:
a) voltage triggering: when vAK > VBO
b) dvAK/dt triggering: when dvAK/dt > the maximum dvAK/dt
c) gate triggering: when iG or vGK > 0
Note that voltage triggering turn-on could be destructive.
dvAK/dt triggering is not easy to control. Typically dvAK/dt for SCRs is
> 100V/s.
Gate triggering gives good control to thyristors. A thyristor can be
turned on at a lower voltage if the gate current increases. The gate
current could be dc or pulse, as long as the current is applied at the
gate for some minimum duration.
Basically, thyristors are pulse-current-driven semiconductor
switches.
 Switching Parameters
Turn-on Turn-OFF
td(on) is the turn on delay time. Same like diode.

diA/dt must be smaller than a Require longer time (the longest

specified maximum diA/dt value, among all the switching parameter)
otherwise the device my be damaged to completely turn off (s)
permanently due to localized heating.
trr
Higher gate current at turn-on interval iA diA/dt Irr/4
reduces the localized heating problem.
Irr t
iG
10% vAK dvAK/dt
t
Io
90% VR t
iA diA/dt
10%
t
td(on) tr Turn-off time tq
 Thyristors (GTO)
A Anode shorts n+ Junction J2 block forward
A
iA voltage.
p+
+ J1 Junction J1 and J3 block
the reverse voltage.
vAK n- However, J3 has a low
- J2 breakdown voltage
p (because of heavy
G
K J3
doping density on both
iG sides).
G Hence, the GTOs (with
K Cathode islands, n+ anode shorts) can only
block reverse voltage in
Inter-digitization of gate and cathode the range of 20 to 30V.
increase dvAK/dt limits. The GTOs without the
anode shorts can block
Cathode shorts in GTO structure are reverse voltage as the
used to shorten the turn-off time, tq. forward.
Special gate conditions for GTOs
turn-on: high positive gate current and diG/dt and
duration >10s
on-state: minimum continuous positive gate current
during the entire on-state period.
turn-off: high negative gate current (0.2 to 0.3 times of
the anode current flow through in the GTO) with a
specified range of diG/dt.
minimum on- and off-state times: at less longer than a
specified time duration.
All these conditions must be satisfied, otherwise, the GTO
may be damaged. The condition 1, 2 and 4 are to ensure
uniform current sharing among the cathode islands. Hence,
a special and complex drive circuit is required for a GTO.
 I-V Characteristics of GTO

iA Forward on-state
IL iG increase i
IBO Ideal
iG2 iG1 iG= 0
VF~ 0
VRWM
IH
RB
IR~ 0 FB v

VH VBO vAK
Reverse blocking Forward blocking

IL= the DC IA above which the gate signal IH= min IA ( - mA) to
can be withdrawn and device stays on. maintain in ON state
 Thyristors (TRIAC)
Bidirectional Triode Thyristors (TRIAC)
Conduct in both directions
Can be considered as two SCRs in antiparallel to each other.
Terminals cannot be designated as Anode or Cathodes.

MT2
MT2
A1 p+ p n+ K2
J4
J1
n-
SCR1

SCR2
iG J2
p
MT1 J3 J5
G K1 n+ n+ p+ A2
G MT1
On state voltage
Trigger SCR1 Trigger SCR2
drop = 1 to 3 V
 I-V Characteristics of Triac
For TRIACs, two sensitive triggering modes are preferred, i.e. I+
and III-. I+ means iG > 0 is applied when vMT2-MT1 > 0. III- means
iG < 0 is applied when vMT2-MT1 < 0.
+i

Quadrant I
MT2 +

+IH
-VBO +v

+VBO
-IH
Quadrant III
MT2 -

Bi-directional
 MOS-Controlled Thyristor (MCT)
MOSFET + Thyristor
low forward voltage drop, large current capability
high switching speed (comparable to IGBT)
high di/dt and dv/dt capabilities
MCT can be turned on and off by external control gate
circuit
Keep the gating signal in both ON and OFF states
Smaller on-state voltage drops compared to IGBTs
However, MOSFETs have the fastest switching speed
MOS-Controlled Thyristor (P-MCT)
Symbol and Equivalent Circuit of P-MCT

VGA:+ve/-ve A

A
G A
D S
G
G OR
OFF-FET S D
K K
ON/OFF T1 ON-FET

T2 OFF/ON
MOSFET control
VGX n-chan p-chan K
+ve ON OFF
-ve OFF ON P-MCT equivalent circuit
x: adjacent electrode
 MOS-Controlled Thyristor (P-MCT)
Cross-section of P-MCT
J2 blocks forward off-state
voltage
OFF-FET ON-FET
(n-channel MOSFET) (p-channel MOSFET) P-channel MOSFET responsible
Gate
Anode for turn-on switching (~ -5V)
SiO2
n+ n+ N-channel MOSFET control the
p p+ p
n 1 turn-off (~ 10V)
2
J1
p- 3
J2 Turning on: holes move from p to
p
n+ 4 J3 substrate p-
Cathode
Thyristor Turning off: n-channel bypass IA
P-MCT device structure (one cell ) flowing through J1. n-channel must
< 0.7V
Switching time quite short, ~1s
MOS-Controlled Thyristor (P-MCT)
Cross-section of P-MCT
OFF-FET ON-FET
(n-channel MOSFET) (p-channel MOSFET)

Gate
Anode
SiO2
n+ n+
p p+ p
n 1
2
J1
p- J2
3
p
n+ 4
J3 substrate
Thyristor Cathode

P-MCT device structure (one cell )

MOS-Controlled Thyristor (N-MCT)
Symbol and Equivalent Circuit of N-MCT

A A A

G ON/OFF OFF/ON
OR
K G K ON-FET OFF-FET
D D
G
N-MCT circuit symbol
S S

MOSFET control VGK:+ve/-ve K

VGX n-chan p-chan
+ve ON OFF
-ve OFF ON N-MCT equivalent circuit
x: adjacent electrode
MOS-Controlled Thyristor (N-MCT)
Cross-section of N-MCT
Thyristor Anode
p+ substrate
J1 n
n-
J2
J3 p

n- n+ n-

p+ p+
SiO2
Cathode
Gate

ON-FET OFF-FET
(n-channel MOSFET) (p-channel MOSFET)

N-MCT device structure (one cell )

 MOS-Controlled Thyristor (MCT)
Limits

1. dv/dt: the same physical origin as that of SCR or GTO.

2. di/dt: limited by the current crowding problems.

iA
Imax

SOA

vAK
VBO