Introduction

Before looking at the different ways to turn on an SCR i.e., the different SCR
turn ON methods, let us quickly recap some important basics of a Silicon
Controlled Rectifier or simply known as SCR. An SCR, which is an important
member of the Thyristor family, is a semiconductor device with four layers,
three junctions and three terminals. The following image shows the structure
and symbol of a typical SCR.

SCR is made up of four alternate layers of p-type and n-type semiconductor

material. The outer ‘p’ region is connected to the Anode (A) and the outer ‘n’
region is connected to the Cathode (K). The inner ‘p’ region is connected to
the third terminal called the Gate (G).

An SCR is essentially a Switch. Unlike Transistor, which can act as a Switch

but also as an amplifier, the SCR is only a switch that is either ON or OFF.
The SCR has two stable states namely, Forward Blocking State and Forward
Conduction State. There are other states but these two are important and
hence we will focus only on these two states.

Switching the SCR from forward blocking state (OFF – state) to forward
conduction state (ON – state) is known as Turning ON process of SCR. It is
also called as triggering.

The criteria for triggering the SCR depends on the several variables like
supply voltage, gate current, temperature, etc. There are various methods to
trigger the SCR so that it comes into the ON state. Let us discuss some of the
SCR Turn On methods in brief.
SCR Turn ON Methods (SCR Triggering)
Let us take the above image with structure of SCR as a reference. If the
anode (outer ‘p’ region) is made positive with respect to the cathode (outer ‘n’
region), junctions J1 and J3 become forward biased but the junction
J2 becomes reverse biased.

As a result, there is no flow of current through the device except for a small
magnitude of leakage current. So, even though the SCR is forward biased,
there is still no flow of current and hence, this state is known as Forward
Blocking State (OFF State).

NOTE: There is another state known as Reverse Blocking State, where the
SCR is reverse biased. The characteristics in this state are similar to that of a
regular diode. Let us now focus on bringing the SCR from forward blocking
state to forward conduction state by ‘turning on the SCR’.

The SCR can be made to conduct or switched from blocking (non-conducting

or OFF) state to Conduction (ON) State by any one of the following methods.

1. Forward Voltage Triggering

2. Temperature Triggering
3. dv/dt Triggering
4. Light Triggering
5. Gate Triggering

Forward Voltage Triggering

In forward voltage triggering method, the SCR is forward biased i.e., anode is
more positive than cathode but this voltage is increased significantly. The gate
terminal is kept open.

As the voltage increases, junction J2‘s depletion layer width increases, which
in turn increases the accelerating-voltage of minority carriers at this
junction. At a particular voltage, there will be an Avalanche Breakdown at the
inner junction J2 as a result of minority charge carriers colliding with atoms and
releasing even more minority charge carriers.

This voltage is known as Forward Breakover Voltage VBO. At this voltage, the
junction J2 becomes forward biased and the SCR turns into conduction state.
A large current flows through the SCR (from Anode to Cathode, which is
limited by the load resistance) with a very low voltage drop across it.

During the turn ON state, the forward voltage drop across the SCR is in the
range of 1 to 1.5 volts and this may be increased with the load current.

In practice this method is not employed because it needs a very large anode
to cathode voltage. And also once the voltage is more than the VBO, the SCR
turns on and a very high current flows through it instantly, which may cause
damage to the SCR. Therefore, most of the cases this type of triggering is
avoided.

Temperature Triggering
This type of triggering is also known as Thermal Triggering as the SCR is
turned by heating it. The reverse leakage current depends on the temperature.
If the temperature is increased to a certain value, the number of hole-pairs
also increases. This causes to increase the leakage current and further it
increases the current gains of the SCR. This starts the regenerative action
inside the SCR since the (α1 + α2) value approaches to unity (as the current
gains increases).

By increasing the temperature at junction J2, the width of the depletion layer
decreases. So, when the forward bias voltage is near to VBO, we can turn ON
the SCR by increasing the junction temperature (J2). At a particular
temperature, the reverse bias of the junction breaks down an the device starts
to conduct.

This triggering occur in some circumstances particularly when it the device

temperature is more (also called false triggering). This type of triggering is
practically not employed because it causes the thermal runaway and hence
the device or SCR may be damaged.

dv/dt Triggering
In forward blocking state i.e., anode is more positive than cathode, the
junctions J1 and J3 are forward biased and the junction J2 is reverse biased.
So, the junction J2 behaves as a capacitor (J1 and J3 as conducting plates with
a dielectric J2) due to the space charges in the depletion region.

The charging current of the capacitor is given as:

IC = dQ / dt

= d(Cj v) / dt

Using Product Rule of Differentiation, we get

= Cj dv / dt + v dCj / dt

As the junction Capacitance is always almost constant, we can ignore the rate
of change of junction Capacitance dCj / dt. So, the final Charging Current is:
 IC = Cj dv/ dt

where, IC is the Charging Current

Cj is the Junction Capacitance

Q is the charge

v is the voltage applied across the device

dCj / dt is the rate of change of junction Capacitance

dv / dt is the rate of change of applied voltage

From the above equation, if the rate of change of the applied voltage is large
(i.e., it is applied suddenly), then the flow of charging current will increase,
which causes the SCR to turn on without any gate voltage.

It is clear that we can turn SCR just by increasing the rate of change of
voltage across the device rather than applying a large forward bias voltage (as
we did in the previous case). However, this method is also practically avoided
because it can cause a false turn ON process and also this can produce very
high voltage spikes across the SCR so there will be considerable damage to
it.

Light Triggering
An SCR turned ON by light radiation is also called as Light Activated SCR
(LASCR). Hence, Light Triggering is also known as Radiation Triggering.
Generally, this type of triggering is employed in phase controlled converters in
HVDC transmission systems.

In this method, light rays with appropriate wavelength and intensity are
allowed to strike the junction J2. The bombarded energy particles from the light
(neutrons or photons) causes to break electron bonds as as result, new
electron – hole pairs are formed in the device.

As the number of charge carriers are increased, there is an instantaneous

increase in the flow of current, causing the SCR to turn ON.
NOTE: For successfully turning ON the SCR with the help of light radiation,
the rate of change of applied voltage (dv / dt) must be high.

Gate Triggering
This is most common and most efficient method to turn ON the SCR. When
the SCR is forward biased, a sufficient positive voltage at the gate terminal
injects some electrons into the junction J2. This results in an increase in the
reverse leakage current and hence the breakdown of junction J2 occurs even
at a voltage lower than the VBO.

Depending on the size of the SCR, the gate current varies from a few milli-
amps to 250 milli-amps or more. If the gate current applied is more, then more
electrons are injected into the junction J2 and results to come into the
conduction state at much lower applied voltage.

In gate triggering method, a positive voltage applied between the gate and the
cathode terminals. We can use three types of gate signals to turn On the
SCR. Those are DC signal, AC signal and pulse signal.

DC Gate Triggering
In this triggering, a sufficient DC voltage is applied between the gate and
cathode terminals in such a way that the gate is made positive with respect to
the cathode. The gate current drives the SCR into conduction mode.
In this method, a continuous gate signal (DC Voltage) is applied at the gate
and hence it causes internal power dissipation (or more power loss). Another
important drawback is there is no isolation between the power and control
circuits (as they both are DC).

AC Triggering
This is the most commonly used method of turning on the SCR, especially in
AC applications. With proper isolation between the power and control circuits
(using transformers), the SCR is triggered by the phase-shift AC voltage
derived from the main supply. The firing angle is controlled by changing the
phase angle of the gate signal.

However, only one half of the cycle is available for the gate drive to control the
firing angle and for the next half of the cycle, a reverse voltage is applied
between the gate and cathode. This is one of the limitation of AC triggering
and the other is need for separate step down or pulse transformer to supply
the voltage to gate drive from the main supply.

Pulse Triggering
The most popular method of triggering the SCR is the pulse triggering. In this
method, gate is supplied with single pulse or a train of high frequency pulses.

The main advantage of this method is that gate drive is discontinuous or

doesn’t need continuous pulses to turn the SCR and hence gate losses are
reduced in greater amount by applying single or periodically appearing pulses.
For isolating the gate drive from the main supply, a pulse transformer is used.
Dynamic Turn ON Switching Characteristics
of SCR
The dynamic processes of the SCR are turn ON and turn OFF processes in
which both voltage and currents of an SCR vary with time. The transition from
one state to another takes finite time, but doesn’t take place instantaneously.

The static or VI characteristics of the SCR give no indication about the speed
at which the SCR has switched into forward conduction mode from forward
blocking mode. Hence, the dynamic characteristics are sometimes more
important which gives the switching characteristics of the SCR.

There will be a finite transition time that SCR takes to reach the forward
conduction mode from blocking mode, which is termed as turn ON time (tON) of
SCR. The turn ON time of the SCR Ton can be subdivided into three distinct
intervals namely delay time td, rise time tr and spread time ts.

Delay Time (td)

The delay time is measured from the instant at which the gate current reaches
90 percent of its final value to the instant at which anode current reaches 10
percent of its final value. It can also be defined as the time taken for the anode
voltage to fall from initial anode voltage value Va to 0.9 Va.

Consider the below figure and observe that, until the time td, the SCR is in
forward blocking mode, so the anode current is a small leakage current. When
the gate signal is applied (at 90 percent of Ig) then the gate current is reached
to 0.1 Ia and also correspondingly anode to cathode voltage falls to 0.9 Va.

With the gate signal applied, there will be non-uniform distribution of current
over the cathode surface so the current density is much higher at gate
terminal. And it rapidly decreases as the distance from gate increases. Hence,
the delay time td is the time during which anode current flows in a narrow
region where the current density (gate current) is highest.

Rise Time (tr)

This is the time taken by the anode current to rise from 10 percent to 90
percent of its final value. Also defined as the time required for the forward
blocking voltage to fall from 0.9 Va to 0.1 Va. This rise time is inversely
proportional to the gate current and its rate of building up.

Therefore, if high and steep current pulses are applied at the gate, it can
significantly reduce the rise time tr. Also, if the load is inductive, the rise time
will be higher and for resistive and capacitive loads it is low.

During this time, turn ON losses in the SCR are high due to large anode
current and high anode voltage. This can result in the formation of local hot
spots and hence the SCR may be damaged.

Spread Time (ts)

This is the time required for the forward blocking voltage to fall from o.1 Va to
its ON-state voltage drop, which is the range of 1 to 1.5 volts. During this time,
anode current spread over the entire conducting region of an SCR from a
narrow conducting region. After the spreading time, a full anode current flows
through the device with small ON-state voltage drop.
Therefore, the total turn ON time tON is:

tON = tr + td + ts

The typical value of the turn ON time is in the order of 1 to 4 micro seconds,
depending on the wave shapes of the gate signal and anode circuit
parameters. To reduce the turn ON time of the SCR, the amplitude of the gate
pulse should be in the order of 3 to 5 times the minimum gate current of the
SCR.

SCR Firing Circuits

As we have seen in above that out of various triggering methods to turn the
SCR, gate triggering is the most efficient and reliable method. Most of the
control applications use this type of triggering because the desired instant of
SCR turning is possible with gate triggering method. Let us look on various
firing circuits of SCR.

Resistance Firing Circuit

 The circuit below shows the resistance triggering of SCR where it is
employed to drive the load from the input AC supply. Resistance and
diode combination circuit acts as a gate control circuitry to switch the
SCR in the desired condition.
 As the positive voltage applied, the SCR is forward biased and doesn’t
conduct until its gate current is more than minimum gate current of the
SCR.
 When the gate current is applied by varying the resistance R2 such that
the gate current should be more than the minimum value of gate
current, the SCR is turned ON. And hence the load current starts
flowing through the SCR.
 The SCR remains ON until the anode current is equal to the holding
current of the SCR. And it will switch OFF when the voltage applied is
zero. So the load current is zero as the SCR acts as open switch.
 The diode protects the gate drive circuit from reverse gate voltage
during the negative half cycle of the input. And Resistance R1 limits the
current flowing through the gate terminal and its value is such that the
gate current should not exceed the maximum gate current.
 It is the simplest and economical type of triggering but limited for few
applications due to its disadvantages.
 In this, the triggering angle is limited to 90 degrees only. Because the
applied voltage is maximum at 90 degrees so the gate current has to
reach minimum gate current value somewhere between zero to 90
degrees.
Resistance – Capacitance (RC) Firing Circuit
 The limitation of resistance firing circuit can be overcome by the RC
triggering circuit which provides the firing angle control from 0 to 180
degrees. By changing the phase and amplitude of the gate current, a
large variation of firing angle is obtained using this circuit.
 Below figure shows the RC triggering circuit consisting of two diodes
with an RC network connected to turn the SCR.
 By varying the variable resistance, triggering or firing angle is controlled
in a full positive half cycle of the input signal.
 During the negative half cycle of the input signal, capacitor charges with
lower plate positive through diode D2 up to the maximum supply voltage
Vmax. This voltage remains at -Vmax across the capacitor till supply
voltage attains zero crossing.
 During the positive half cycle of the input, the SCR becomes forward
biased and the capacitor starts charging through variable resistance to
the triggering voltage value of the SCR.
 When the capacitor charging voltage is equal to the gate trigger voltage,
SCR is turned ON and the capacitor holds a small voltage. Therefore
the capacitor voltage is helpful for triggering the SCR even after 90
degrees of the input waveform.
 In this, diode D1 prevents the negative voltage between the gate and
cathode during the negative half cycle of the input through diode D2.
UJT Firing Circuit
 It is the most common method of triggering the SCR because the
prolonged pulses at the gate using R and RC triggering methods cause
more power dissipation at the gate so by using UJT (Uni Junction
Transistor) as triggering device the power loss is limited as it produce a
train of pulses.
 The RC network is connected to the emitter terminal of the UJT which
forms the timing circuit. The capacitor is fixed while the resistance is
variable and hence the charging rate of the capacitor depends on the
variable resistance means that the controlling of the RC time constant.
 When the voltage is applied, the capacitor starts charging through the
variable resistance. By varying the resistance value voltage across the
capacitor get varied. Once the capacitor voltage is equal to the peak
value of the UJT, it starts conducting and hence produce a pulse output
till the voltage across the capacitor equal to the valley voltage Vv of the
UJT. This process repeats and produces a train of pulses at base
terminal 1.
 The pulse output at the base terminal 1 is used to turn ON the SCR at
predetermined time intervals.
Conclusion
A complete tutorial on different types of SCR turn ON Methods. Learn some
essential basics of SCR, SCR turn ON Methods like Forward Voltage
Triggering, Temperature Triggering, dv/dt Triggering, Light Triggering, Gate
Triggering (and its types). Also some of the popular SCR firing circuits.

Related Posts:
 Thyristor Basics
 Silicon Controlled Rectifier
 SCR Turn OFF Methods
 MOSFET as a Switch
 Gate Turn Off Thyristor
 PNPN Diode or Shockley Diode