Chapter 3

Introduction to the Thyristor Device and Family

Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)

TheSCR is a three-terminal semiconductor switching device which is probably the most

important circuit element after the diode and the transistor.

Invented in 1957, an SCR can be used as a controlled switch to perform various functions
such as rectification, inversion and regulation of power flow. The SCR has assumed
paramount importance in electronics because it can be produced in versions to handle
currents up to several thousand amperes and voltages up to more than 1 kV.

The SCR is also known as thyristor.

It is a unidirectional power switch and is being extensively used in switching dc and ac,
rectifying ac to give controlled dc output, converting dc into ac etc.

Construction

Fig 1

When a pn junction is added to a junction transistor, the resulting three pn junction device is
called a silicon controlled rectifier. Fig. 1 (i) shows its construction. It is a pnpn device.
Three terminals are taken; one from the outer p-type material called anode A second from the
outer n-type material called cathode K and the third from the base of transistor section and is
called gate G.
In the normal operating conditions of SCR, anode is held at high positive potential w.r.t.
cathode and gate at small positive potential w.r.t. cathode. Fig.1 (ii) shows the symbol of
SCR.

NB:
The device is made of silicon because leakage current in silicon is very small as compared to
germanium. Since the device is used as a switch, it will carry leakage current in the off
condition which should be as small as possible.
Working of SCR

In a silicon controlled rectifier, load is connected in series with anode. The anode is always
kept at positive potential w.r.t. cathode. The working of SCR can be studied under the
following two heads:

i. When gate is open.

Fig 2 shows the SCR circuit with gate open i.e. no voltage applied to the gate. Under this
condition, junction J2 is reverse biased (The whole applied voltage V appears as reverse bias
across junction J2 as junctions J1 and J3 are forward biased.) while junctions J1 and J3 are
forward biased. Hence, the situation in the junctions J1 and J3 is just as in a npn transistor
with base open.

Consequently, no current flows through the load RL and the SCR is cut off. However, if the
applied voltage is gradually increased, a stage is reached when reverse biased junction J2
breaks down. The SCR now conducts heavily (Because J1 and J3 are forward biased and J2
has broken down.) and is said to be in the ON state. The applied voltage at which SCR
conducts heavily without gate voltage is called Break-over voltage.

Fig 2

ii. When gate is positive w.r.t. cathode

The SCR can be made to conduct heavily at smaller applied voltage by applying a small
positive potential to the gate as shown in Fig3. Now junction J3 is forward biased and
junction J2 is reverse biased. The electrons from n-type material start moving across junction
J3 towards left whereas holes from p-type towards the right. Consequently, the electrons from
junction J3 are attracted across junction J2 and gate current starts flowing.

As soon as the gate current flows, anode current increases. The increased anode current in
turn makes more electrons available at junction J2. This process continues and in an
extremely small time, junction J2 breaks down and the SCR starts conducting heavily. Once
SCR starts conducting, the gate loses all control. Even if gate voltage is removed, the anode
current does not decrease at all. The only way to stop conduction (i.e. bring SCR in off
condition) is to reduce the applied voltage to zero.
 Fig 3

Important terms

The following terms are much used in the study of SCR:

(i) Breakover voltage
(ii) Peak reverse voltage
(iii) Holding current
(iv) Latching current
(v) Forward current rating
(vi) Circuit fusing rating

(i) Breakover voltage

It is the minimum forward voltage, gate being open, at which SCR starts
conducting heavily i.e. turned on.

Thus, if the break-over voltage of an SCR is 200 V, it means that it can block a forward
voltage (i.e. SCR remains open) as long as the supply voltage is less than 200 V. If the supply
voltage is more than this value, then SCR will be turned on. In practice, the SCR is operated
with supply voltage less than break-over voltage and it is then turned on by means of a small
voltage applied to the gate.

(ii) Peak reverse voltage (PRV)

It is the maximum reverse voltage (cathode positive w.r.t. anode) that can be
applied to an SCR without conducting in the reverse direction.

Peak reverse voltage (PRV) is an important consideration while connecting an SCR in an ac

circuit. During the negative half of ac supply, reverse voltage is applied across SCR. If PRV
is exceeded, there may be avalanche breakdown and the SCR will be damaged if the external
circuit does not limit the current.
 (iii) Holding current

It is the maximum anode current, gate being open, at which SCR is

turned off from ON conditions.

Holding current of SCR or thyrsistor is that minimum value of current below which anode
current must fall to come in OFF state

When SCR is in the conducting state, it cannot be turned OFF even if gate voltage is
removed. The only way to turn off or open the SCR is to reduce the supply voltage to almost
zero at which point the internal transistor comes out of saturation and opens the SCR. The
anode current under this condition is very small (a few mA) and is called holding current.
Thus, if an SCR has a holding current of 5mA, it means that if anode current is made less
than 5mA, then SCR will be turned off.

(iv) Latching current I L

Latching current of forward biased SCR is the minimum current which
anode current must attain to continue to remain in forward conduction mode even
when gate current is removed. If the value of anode current is less than this value,
the SCR will not continue to conduct in forward direction if gate signal is
removed.

(v) Forward current rating

It is the maximum anode current that an SCR is capable of passing without

destruction.

Every SCR has a safe value of forward current which it can conduct. If the value of current
exceeds this value, the SCR may be destroyed due to intensive heating at the junctions. For
example, if an SCR has a forward current rating of 40A, it means that the SCR can safely
carry only 40 A. Any attempt to exceed this value will result in the destruction of the SCR.

(vi) Circuit fusing ( I 2t) rating

It is the product of square of forward surge current and the time of duration of
the surge i.e., Circuit fusing rating = I 2t

The circuit fusing rating indicates the maximum forward surge current capability of SCR. For
example, consider an SCR having circuit fusing rating of 90 A2s. If this rating is exceeded in
the SCR circuit, the device will be destroyed by excessive power dissipation.
VI Characteristics of SCR (Transfer Characteristics)

Fig 4

Forward characteristics
When anode is positive w.r.t. cathode, the curve between V and I is called the forward
characteristic. In Fig 4, OABC is the forward characteristic of SCR at IG = 0.
If the supply voltage is increased from zero, a point is reached (point A) when the SCR starts
conducting. Under this condition, the voltage across SCR suddenly drops as shown by dotted
curve AB and most of supply voltage appears across the load resistance RL. If proper gate
current is made to flow,SCR can close at much smaller supply voltage.

Reverse characteristics.
When anode is negative w.r.t. cathode, the curve between V and I is known as reverse
characteristic. The reverse voltage does come across SCR when it is operated with a.c.
supply. If the reverse voltage is gradually increased, at first the anode current remains small
([Link] current) and at some reverse voltage, avalanche breakdown occurs and the SCR
starts conducting heavily in the reverse direction as shown by the curve DE. This maximum
reverse voltage at which SCR starts conducting heavily is known as reverse breakdown
voltage.

Regions of Operation

 Forward blocking
 Reverse blocking
 Forward conducting

Forward biasing region

 The anode is +ve but anode voltage is less than the breakover voltage. A small
forward leakage current flows but overall thyristor remains off.

Forward conducting region

 Anode voltage is greater than breakover voltage.
 Thyristor conducts and a large forward current flows.
 The conduction can be achieved much prior to breakdown voltage if the small gate
current I G is supplied.
 This would be called gate controlled turn on of the device.
 The forward current must be more than latching current I L
 If the current goes below holding current value I H the thyristor switches back to
forward blocking state.

Reverse Blocking region

 Under this, cathode is+ve wrt anode.

 A small reverse current flows
 However if this reverse voltage is increased beyond the breakdown voltage, avalanche
breakdown occurs and a large current flows through the device.
The two transistor model of SCR
If the middle 2 layers of the SCR are split into separate parts each as shown below, the 2
transistor model is obtained.

 One transistor is npn and the other is pnp

 With no gate signal, npn transistor would remain cutoff with almost zero collector
current.
 I c of npn transistor is actually base current for pnp transistor hence under no gate
signal thyristor is in forward block mode.
 A +ve bias at gate would turn npn on.
 This turn on would establish I c of npn which is I b for pnp transistor.
 Hence pnp transistor would also turn on, now the I c of pnp is actually the I b for npn.
 Thus an increase of current in one transistor causes increase of current in other
transistor and this cumulative action turns on the thyristor.
 Since I c of pnp (which is also I b of npn) is much larger than gate current hence once
turned on, gate loses control of device and thyristor remains conducting even if gate is
removed!
 Hence gate bias can only turn on SCR but it doesn’t turn it off
 The collector current I cof a transistor is from emitter current I e and leakage current
of collector – base junction I cbo thus:
 I c = I E + I CBO

 I c /I E is denoted by α and is the current gain

 For T 1 emitter current is anode current I A therefore I C 1 for T 1 is

Thyristor Turn on methods (Triggering)

The methods are:

 Voltage triggering
dV

dt
 Gate triggering
 High temperature triggering
 Light triggering

Voltage Triggering

If the forward anode to cathode voltage is greater than the forward breakdown voltage VB0,
regenerative turn on. This method may be destructive hence is seldom used.

Gate Triggering

If a thyristor is forward biased, the injection of gate current by applying positive gate
voltage between the gate and cathode terminals would turn-on the thyristor.

dV
Triggering
dt
If the rate of rise of the anode-cathode voltage is high, the charging current of the capacitive
junctions may be sufficient enough to turn on the thyristor. A high value of charging current
may damage the thyristor.
The reverse biased junction behaves as a capacitor under forward blocking mode. If a rapidly
charging voltage is applied across the Anode and cathode of the thyristor, a charging current
I B flows through the device from A to K. This charging I directly depends upon rate of
change of voltage or transient voltage as shown by:
dV
I B= C B
dt
The greater the voltage transient, the greater the current I B and the greater the forward
current.
This higher forward current may cause turning on of thyristor.
This method is not suitable for SCR triggering either as high I B would result in high forward
current that may damage SCR.

High temperature triggering

As temperature of a pn junction increases width of depletion region decreases. This is due to
reason that number of electron hole pair increases and leakage current increases. At a certain
reverse biased junction may break down and thyristor starts [Link] temperature
triggering may cause thermal run away and is generally avoided.

Light triggering
In this method, particles (neutrons or protons) are made to strike reverse biased junction. This
causes an increase in the number of electron- hole pairs and triggering of thyristor.
This method is used of triggering is used in light activated silicon switch (LASCR)

Gate control
An easy method to switch on SCR into conduction state is to apply proper +ve signal to gate.
This signal should be applied when thyristor is forward biased and should be removed after
device has been switched on.
The turn on time is about 1-4 µs. this gate signal can be dc, ac or pulse.

i. DC gate signal
 The application of a dc gate signal causes flow of gate current which triggers SCR. The
disadvantage of this method is that signal has to be continuously applied resulting in
power loss (I g2 R g) since there is no need for continous gate current I g once SCR is on.

ii. AC gate signal

In this method a phase shifted ac voltage derived from main supplies the gate signal. The
instant of firing can be controlled by phase angle control of gate signal.

iii. Pulse
In this method, the SCR is triggered by application of a +ve pulse of correct magnitude. A
power electronics ckt has a number of thyristors connected in series and in parallel. A
pulse has a regulated waveform of a fixed duration. It can be +ve or –ve.

The time the pulse is on/high should be sufficient enough to make the anode current I A >
I L so that SCR starts conducting before the pulse goes low.

They have to be switched on at proper instants in a certain sequence. This can be done by
a train of high frequency pulses applied at proper instances through a logic circuit. A
pulse transformer is used for isolation. In this method gate losses are very low because
drive is discontinuous.

Trigger current and trigger voltage

Thyristor Specification and Ratings

Voltage Ratings

i. Peak working off state forward voltage (V DWM ) known as peak working forward
blocking voltage – this is the maximum value of forward voltage which a thyristor
can withstand when it is in off state.
ii. Peak working reverse voltage V R WM –it is the maximum value of reverse voltage
which thyristor can withstand.
iii. On state voltage (V T ) – it is the voltage drop across the thyristor (ie between the A
& K) at specified value of forward current and forward temperature. It is about
1V- 1.5V

Current Ratings

i. Average on state (forward) current ( I TAV ) : since voltage drop across a conducting
thyristor is low, current I TAV determines power loss in thyristor.
ii. RMS on state current ( I RMS ) : even if actual average value of forward I is less than
specified value, the heating may be exclusive. This is because of the reason that
heating depends on effective (RMS) current and not average I. Therefore an rms
value of forward current is also specified for max forward temperature.
iii. Impulse (surge) current rating ( I TSM ) : in addition to rated steady current a
thyristor is also subjected to surge I under abnormal conditions. This current is
max surge I which thyristor can withstand.
di
iv. rating: This rating indicates maximum allowable rate of increase of anode I.
dt
When thyristor , conduction initially starts near cathode and then spreads to whole
di
junction. If is very high, conductivity may not be able to spread as fast and
dt
local hot spots may occur. This may raise temperature beyond permissible limit.
di
The safe value of lies in range of 50 to 800 A/µ sec.
dt
v. Holding current ( I h) : it is maximum A current at which thyristor can continue
conducting. If anode current becomes less than I h thyristor is turned off. This
current is in the mA range.
vi. Latching current ( I L) : when gate current is applied to a thyristor in forward
blocking mode, A current starts increasing . Latching current is minimum A
current to keep thyristor in conducting state after gate pulse is removed. This
current is about 2 to 3 times holding current
vii. Max and Min Gate current: the minimum gate current indicates that value of gate
current which is sufficient to turn on the thyristor. The minimum gate current
depends on rate of rise of A current. The max gate I indicates a safe value of gate
current that should not be exceeded.

Power rating

i. Forward Conduction Loss

 The average forward conduction loss is the product of average A current and
voltage drop across thyristor. This loss is a major portion of losses in a thyristor.
ii. Turn on loss: During turn on process, voltage drop across a thyristor is pretty high
therefore appreciable power loss occurs during turn on period.
iii. Turn off loss: During rapid off, reverse current may be as high as forward
conduction I. to limit this loss an extra inductance is added in the circuit. However
this inductance may cause high reverse transient voltage. In high frequency
circuits thyristors are turned on and off many times in each cycle of mains
frequency. In such cases turn on and off losses may be appreciable.
iv. Forward blocking (leakage) loss: this loss occurs when a forward voltage is
applied but thyristor is not conducting. A forward leakage current flows during
this period. It is a product of forward blocking voltage and forward leakage
current. This loss is small.
v. Reverse blocking (leakage) loss: this loss occurs when reverse voltage is applied.
It’s the product of reverse voltage and reverse leakage current. This loss is also
small.
vi. Gate power loss: this loss is a product of gate voltage and gate current. Most
thyristor circuits use pulse signals for triggering. For such systems, gate power
loss is negligible.

Temperature Ratings

i. Junction Temperature (T j) : the junction temperature determines ability of thyristor

to operate successfully. If junction temperature goes beyond specified value,
thyristor may start conducting even if gate signal is not applied. The forward
breakover voltage, turn offtime and thermal stability depends on junction
temperature.
ii. Thermal resistance: The heat dissipation from cooling depends on the thermal
resistance. It is expressed in units of temperature difference (degrees celcius) per
watt of power dissipated.
Triggering Circuits

The figure shows a triggering circuit after resistance R has been added between gate and
cathode. This resistance is connected to provide a path for leakage current. Taking min value
of V g and I g as V gmin and I gmin

Question
The V g - I g characteristics of an SCR is given by V g = 1 + 9 I g. The gate pulses are
rectangular with voltage amplitude of 12V and duration of 60µs. The duty cycle (time signal
is on wrt T) is 0.3.
a. Find series resistance R g in gate circuit to limit peak power loss to 6W.
b. Find average gate power loss

Solution

Thyristor commutation techniques

Commutation is the process of turning off a thyristor, and it normally causes transfer of
current flow toother parts of the circuit.

A commutation circuit normally uses additional components to turn off the thyristor.

Thyristor commutation is classified into 2, ie:

i. Natural commutation
ii. Forced commutation

Natural Commutation

If the source/input voltage is ac, the thyristor current goes through a natural zero, and a
reverse voltage appears across the thyristor. The device is then automatically turned off due
to the natural behaviour of the source voltage. This is known as natural commutation or line
commutation. In practice, the thyristor istriggered syncchronously (at the same time) with the
zero crossing of the positive input voltage in every cycle in order to provide continous control
of power.

Application of natural commutation

 AC voltage controllers
 Phase controlled rectifiers
 Cycloconverters
Circuit

Fig 6: Thyristor with natural commutation

Fig 6 (a) shows the circuit arrangement for natural commutation. During the positive half
cycle of the input voltage, T 1 is forward biased and when fired it will conduct. When the
input voltage is in its negative half cycle, T 1 is reversed biased and will naturally stop
conducting due to the nature of the input voltage.

Fig 6 (b) shows the voltage and current waveforms with a delay angle, α = 0. The delay angle
α is defined as the angle between the zero crossing of the input voltage and the instant the
thyristor is fired.

Forced Commutation

In some thyristor circuits, the input voltage is dc and the forward current of the thyristor is
forced to zero by an additional circuitry called commutation circuit to turn of the thyristor.
This technique is called forced commutation and normally applied in dc-dc converters
(choppers) and dc-ac converters (inverters).

Forced commutation can be classified as:

i. Self-commutation
ii. Impulse commutation
iii. Resonant pulse commutation
iv. Complementary commutation
v. External pulse commutation
 vi. Load side commutation
vii. Line side commutation

i. Self- commutation

Fig 8

Initially capacitor gets charged to battery voltage V with upper plate +ve. As soon as
thyristor is turned on, it starts conducting and supplying current to load R. Now the
capacitor starts discharging through L and thyristor (the path of this current is through
thyristor, L and back to capacitor). After getting completely discharged it starts getting
charged with opposite polarity (lower plate +ve), because of this reverse voltage, a –ve
current starts flowing. This –ve current opposes load current. At point ‘a’ in fig 8 b, load
current and –ve current are equal and thyristor is turned off. Once thyristor is turned off
capacitor starts getting charged again (through L and R) with upper plate +ve thus SCR
remains off for some time then on for some time and this cycle is repeated. The on and
off time depends on L and C.
 Where ω m = 1/√ LC , after a time t = t 0 = √ LC charging current becomes zero and
thyristor is switched off. The waveforms for I and V c are shown in fig 8 b.

NB: Due to the inductor, voltage of circuit can be greater than supply voltage hence it is
added to the circuit.

Complementary Commutation

Fig 9: Complementary commutation circuit

A complementary commutation is used to transfer current between two loads as shown in fig
9. The firing of one thyristor commutates the other one. When T 1 is fired, the load with R1 is
connected to the supply voltageV s , and at the same time the capacitor C is charged to V s
through the other load R2. The polarity of C is shown in fig 9. When T 2 is fired, the capacitor
is then placed across T 1 and the load with R2 is connected to the supply voltageV s . T 1 is
reverse biased and is turned off by impulse commutation. Once T 1is switched off, C voltage
is reversed to -V s through R1,T 2 and the supply. If T 1 is fired again, T 2 is turned off and the
cycle is repeated. Normally the 2 thyristors conduct with equal time intervals.
 Voltage and current waveforms for R1= R2 = R

Time off time is calculated as: t off = RC ln 2

V c should be greater or equal to V s to turn off the thyristor else the method won’t work.

External Pulse commutation

Fig 10: External pulse commutation circuit

A pulse of current is obtained from an external voltage to turn off a conducting [Link]
10 shows a thyristor circuit using an external pulse commutation and two supply
sources. V s is the voltage of the main supply and V is the voltage of the auxiliary
source. If T 3 is fired, the capacitor will charge from the auxiliary. Assuming that the
capacitor is initially uncharged, a resonant current pulse of peak V√ C /L will flow
through T 3 and the capacitor is charged to 2V. If thyristor . T 1 is conducting and a
load current is supplied from the main source . V s , firing of T 2 will apply a reverse
voltage of V s -2V across T 1 and T 1 will be turned off. Once T 1 is turned off, the
 capacitor will discharge through the load at a rate determined by the magnitude of the
load current.

Triac

A triac is a three-terminal semiconductor switching device which can control alternating

current in a load.

Triac is an abbreviation for triode ac switch. ‘Tri’– indicates that the device has three
terminals and ‘ac’ means that the device controls alternating current or can conduct current in
either direction.

Triac Construction

A triac is a three-terminal, five-layer semiconductor device whose forward and reverse

characteristics are identical to the forward characteristics of the SCR.

The three terminals are designated as main terminal MT1, main terminal MT2 and gate G.
Fig 2 (i) shows the basic structure of a triac. A triac is equivalent to two separate SCRs
connected in inverse parallel (i.e. anode of each connected to the cathode of the other)
with gates common as shown in Fig 2 (ii).

Therefore, a triac acts like a bidirectional switch i.e. it can conduct current in either direction.
This is unlike an SCR which can conduct current only in one direction. Fig 2 (iii) shows the
schematic symbol of a triac. The symbol consists of two parallel diodes connected in opposite
directions with a single gate lead. It can be seen that even the symbol of triac indicates that it
can conduct current for either polarity of the main terminals (MT1 and MT2) i.e. it can act as
a bidirectional switch. The gate provides control over conduction in either direction.

Fig 2
NB

 The triac can conduct current (with proper gate current) regardless of the polarities of
the main terminals MT1 and MT2. Since there is no longer a specific anode or
cathode, the main leads are referred to as MT1 and MT2.
 A triac can be turned on either with a positive or negative voltage at the gate of the
device.
 Like the SCR, once the triac is fired into conduction, the gate loses all control. The
triac can be turned off by reducing the circuit current to the value of holding current.
 The main disadvantage of triacs over SCRs is that triacs have considerably lower
current handling capabilities. Most triacs are available in ratings of less than 40A at
voltages up to 600V.

SCR Equivalent Circuit of Triac

Fig 3 (i) shows the basic structure of a triac. Splitting the basic structure of a triac into two
halves as shown in Fig 3 (ii), it is easy to see that there are two SCRs connected in inverse
parallel. The left half in Fig 3 (ii) consists of a pnpn device ( p1 n2 p2 n4 ) having three pn
junctions and constitutes SCR1. Similarly, the right half in Fig 3 (ii) consists of pnpn device (
p2 n3 p1 n1) having three pn junctions and constitutes SCR2.

Fig 3
 Fig 4: The SCR equivalent circuit of the triac

Suppose the main terminal MT2 is positive and main terminal MT1 is negative. If the triac is
now fired into conduction by proper gate current, the triac will conduct current following the
path (left half) shown in Fig 3 (ii). In relation to Fig 4, the SCR1 is ON and the SCR2 is OFF.

Suppose that MT2 is negative and MT1 is positive. With proper gate current, the triac will be
fired into conduction. The current through the devices follows the path (right half) as shown
in Fig 3 (ii). In relation to Fig 4, the SCR2 is ON and the SCR1 is OFF. Note that the triac
will conduct current in the appropriate direction as long as the current through the device is
greater than its holding current.

Traic Characteristics

Fig 5 shows the V-I characteristics of a triac. Since the triac essentially consists of two SCRs
of opposite orientation fabricated in the same crystal, its operating characteristics in the first
and third quadrants are the same except for the direction of applied voltage and current flow.
 Fig 5

The following points may be noted from the triac characteristics:

 The V-I characteristics for triac in the Ist and IIIrd quadrants are essentially identical
to those of an SCR in the Ist quadrant.
 The triac can be operated with either positive or negative gate control voltage but in
normal operation usually the gate voltage is positive in quadrant I and negative in
quadrant III.
 The supply voltage at which the triac is turned ON depends upon the gate current. The
greater the gate current, the smaller the supply voltage at which the triac is turned on.
This permits to use a triac to control a.c. power in a load from zero to full power in a
smooth and continuous manner with no loss in the controlling device.

Exercise

Briefly explain the operation in terms of voltage polarities of the triac for it To
operate in the 2nd and 4th quadrants.