Thyristor or Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)

June 8, 2019 by Electrical4U

Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) is a unidirectional semiconductor
device made of silicon. This device is the solid state equivalent of
thyratron and hence it is also referred to as thyristor or thyroid
transistor. In fact, SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier) is a trade name
given to the thyristor by General Electric Company. Basically, SCR is
a three-terminal, four-layer semiconductor device consisting of
alternate layers of p-type and n-type material. Hence it has three pn
junctions J1, J2 and J3. The figure below shows an SCR with the layers
p-n-p-n. The device has terminals Anode(A), Cathode(K) and the
Gate(G). The Gate terminal(G) is attached to the p-layer nearer to the
Cathode(K) terminal.

The symbol of SCR or Thyristor is shown in the figure below.

An SCR can be considered as two inter-connected transistors as
shown below.

It is seen that a single SCR is the combination of one pnp transistor

(Q1) and one npn transistor (Q2). Here, the emitter of Q1 acts as the
anode terminal of the SCR while the emitter of Q2 is its cathode.
Further, the base of Q1 is connected to the collector of Q2 and the
collector of Q1 is connected to the base of Q2. The gate terminal of the
SCR is connected to the base of Q2, too.
The working of SCR can be understood by analyzing its behavior in
the following modes:

Reverse Blocking Mode of SCR

In this mode, the SCR is reverse biased by connecting its anode
terminal (A) to negative end and the cathode terminal (K) to the
positive end of the battery. This leads to the reverse biasing of the
junctions J1 and J3, which in turn prohibits the flow of current through
the device, in spite of the fact that the junction J2 remains in forward
biased condition.

In this
state, the SCR behaves as a typical diode. In this reverse biased
condition, only reverse saturation current flows through the device
as in the case of the reverse biased diode which is shown in the
characteristic curve by blue line. The device also exhibits the reverse
breakdown phenomenon beyond a reverse safe voltage limit just like
a diode.
Forward Blocking Mode of SCR
Here a positive bias is applied to the SCR by connecting anode
terminal (A) to the positive and cathode terminal (K) to the negative
terminal of the battery, as shown in the figure below. Under this
condition, the junction J1 and J3 get forward biased while junction J2
gets reverse biased.
Here also current cannot pass through the thyristor except the tiny
current flowing as saturation current as shown by the blue curve in
the characteristics curve below.

Forward Conduction Mode of SCR

The SCR can be made to conduct either
(i) By increasing the positive voltage applied at anode terminal (A)
beyond the Break Over Voltage, VB or
(ii) By applying positive voltage at the gate terminal (G) as shown in
the figure below.
In the first case, the increase in the applied bias causes the initially
reverse biased junction J2to break down at the point corresponding to
forward Break Over Voltage, VB. This results in the sudden increase
in the current flowing through the SCR as shown by the pink curve
in the characteristic curve, although the gate terminal of the SCR
remains unbiased.
However, SCR can also be turned on at a much smaller voltage level
by proving small positive voltage at the gate terminal. The reason
behind this can be better understood by considering the transistor
equivalent circuit of the SCR shown in the figure below.
Here it is seen that on applying a positive voltage at the gate
terminal, transistor Q2 switches ON and its collector current flows
into the base of transistor Q1. This causes Q1 to turn ON which in turn
results in the flow of its collector current into the base of Q2. This
causes either transistor to get saturated at a very rapid rate and the
action cannot be stopped even by removing the bias applied at the
gate terminal, provided the current through the SCR is greater than
that of the Latching current. Here the latching current is defined as
the minimum current required to maintain the SCR in conducting
state even after the gate pulse is removed.
In such state, the SCR is said to be latched and there will be no means
to limit the current through the device, unless by using an external
impedance in the circuit. This necessitates one to resort for different
techniques like Natural Commutation, Forced Commutation or
Reverse Bias Turn Off and Gate Turn-Off to switch OFF a conducting
SCR. Basically, all of these techniques aim at reducing the anode
current below the Holding Current. Holding current is defined as the
minimum current to maintain the SCR in its conducting mode.
Similar to the turn off techniques, there are also different turn-on
techniques for the SCR like Triggering by DC Gate Signal, Triggering
by AC Gate Signal and Triggering by Pulsed Gate Signal, Forward-
Voltage Triggering, Gate Triggering, dv/dt Triggering, Temperature
Triggering and Light Triggering.

There are many variations of SCR devices viz., Reverse Conducting

Thyristor (RCT), Gate Turn-Off Thyristor (GTO), Gate Assisted Turn-
Off Thyristor (GATT), Asymmetric Thyristor, Static Induction
Thyristors (SITH), MOS Controlled Thyristors (MCT), Light
Activated Thyristors (LASCR) etc. Normally SCRs have high
switching speed and can handle heavy current flow. This makes the
thyristor (SCR) ideal for many applications like

1. Power switching circuits (for both AC and DC)

2. Zero-voltage switching circuits
3. Over voltage protection circuits
4. Controlled Rectifiers
5. Inverters
6. AC Power Control (including lights, motors, etc.)
7. Pulse Circuits
8. Battery Charging Regulator
9. Latching Relays
10. Computer Logic Circuits
11. Remote Switching Units
12. Phase Angle Triggered Controllers
13. Timing Circuits
14. IC Triggering Circuits
15. Welding Machine Control
16. Temperature Control Systems
Thyristor Triggering or SCR Triggering
June 8, 2019 by Electrical4U

Today, the world is witnessing energy crises. This necessitates the

efficient utilization of electrical energy. Power electronics helps in
accomplishing this task of efficient energy usage. Thyristor is an
important family of devices in power electronic system. SCR (Silicon
Control Rectifier) is an important device in the thyristor family. As
the SCR is used more widely hence SCR is known as a thyristor.
Applications of power electronics deals with the flow of electronic
power. In order to achieve better efficiency the semiconductor
devices used in power electronic system are operated as switches.
One of the semiconductor device used in a power electronic system is
thyristor. Few of the other devices used as switches are diodes,
Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs), Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field
Effect Transistor (MOSFET), Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor
(IGBT), Gate Turn Off Thyristor (GTOs).
The term thyristor is a general name for a family of semiconductor
device. Thyristor families consist of large number of switching
devices. A thyristor is a solid state power semiconductor device. It
has four alternating layer and three junctions J1, J2, J3 of N type
semiconductor and P type semiconductor material. A thyristor has
three terminals. Namely anode, cathode and gate. Thyristor acts as a
bistable switch, conducts when its anode is made positive with
respect to cathode and gate signal (between gate terminal and
cathode terminal) is applied.

Triggering means turning ON of a device from its off state. Turning

ON of a thyristor refers to thyristor triggering. Thyristor is turned on
by increasing the anode current flowing through it. The increase in
anode current can be achieved by many ways.
1. Voltage Thyristor Triggering:- Here the applied
forward voltage is gradually increased beyond a [Link] as
forward break over voltage VBO and gate is kept open. This
method is not preferred because during turn on of thyristor, it
is associated with large voltage and large current which results
in huge power loss and device may be damaged.
2. Thermal Thyristor Triggering:- If the temperature of the
thyristor is high, it results in increase in the electron-hole pairs.
Which in turn increase the leakage current α1 and α2 to raise.
The regenerative action tends to increase (α1 + α2) to units and
the thyristor may be turned on. This type turn on is not
preferred as it may result in thermal turn away and hence it is
avoided.
3. Light Thyristor Triggering:- These rays of light are allowed to
strike the junctions of the thyristor. This results in an increase
in the number of electron-hole pair and thyristor may be
turned on. The light-activated SCRs (LASER) are triggered by
using this method.
4. dv/dt Triggering:- If the rate of rise of anode to cathode voltage
is high, the charging current through the capacitive junction is
high enough to turn on the thyristor. A high value of charging
current may destroy the thyristor hence the device must be
protected against high dv/dt.
5. Gate Triggering:- This method of thyristor triggering is
widely employed because of ease C8 control over the thyristor
gate triggering of thyristor allows us to turn of the thyristor
whenever we wish. Here we apply a gate signal to the
thyristor. Forward biased thyristor will turn on when gate
signal is applied to it. Once the thyristor starts conducting, the
gate loses its control over the device and the thyristor
continues to conduct. This is because of regenerative action
that takes place within the thyristor when gate signal is
applied.
When the thyristor is forward biased, and a gate signal is injected by
applying positive gate voltage is applied between gate and cathode
terminals, then the thyristor is turned on.
Fig. shows the waveform of anode current after the application of
gate signal. ton is the turn on delay time. The turn on delay time is the
time interval between the application of gate signal and conduction
of thyristor. The turn on delay time ton is defined as the time interval
between 10% of steady state gate current 0.1Ig and 90% of steady state
thyristor on state current 0.9IT ton is the sum of delay time td and rise
time tr. The delay time td is defined as the time interval between 10%
of steady state gate current (0.1 Ig) and 10% of on state thyristor
current (0.1IT). The rise time tr is defined as the time taken by the
thyristor anode current from 10% of thyristor on state current (0.1IT)
to 90% of on state thyristor current (0.9IT).
While designing gate thyristor triggering circuit following points
should be kept in mind.
1. When thyristor is turned on the gate signal should be removed
immediately. A continuous application of gate signal even after
the triggering on and thyristor would increase the power loss
in the gate junction.
2. No gate signal should be applied when thyristor is reversed
biased; otherwise thyristor
 3. The pulse width of the gate signal should le longer than the
time required for the anode current to rise to the
holding current value IH.
A thyristor cannot be turned off by an applied negative gate signal.
To stop the conduction of the thyristor we have to bring the anode
current flowing through the thyristor to a level below holding
current level. Holding current may be defined as the minimum
anode current required to maintain the thyristor in the on state
without gate signal below which the thyristor stops conduction.

If we want to turn on the thyristor, the current flowing through the

thyristor must be greater than latching current of the thyristor.
Latching current is the minimum anode current required to maintain
the thyristor in the on state with at gate signal. Here we should note
that even the thyristor anode current falls below latching current
(once it is turned on and gate signal is removed) thyristor does not
stop conduction. But if it falls below holding current (Latching
current is more than holding current) then thyristor turn off.