SCR turn-on methods

• Two Transistor Analogy

• Turn-on methods
• Dynamic Characteristics
• Important specifications
Typical ratings-10KV,3000A,30MW
-1A,10V,10W
Two transistor model
 Turn-On process of SCR
• For Finite IG^-----IA^
1^ with IA^->IE1
2^ with IK^>IE2 (IK=IA+IG)
So,( 1+ 2)^Further IA^
Regenerative or Positive f/b…. ,( 1+ 2)~1
IA is very large ….SCR ON.
• Under Transient conditions , SCR can turn ON
Capacitance of PN jn influence the thyristor.
SCR in Blocking state(IG=0)
High dv/dt------Current ^ in The jn capacitors
So,High dv/dt---- iC^--CB01,CB02^--
IA^-- ,( 1+ 2)^=1---IA very large
So, if dv/dt is high….Undesirable turn on can take place
 Thyristor turn-ON methods
• Thyristor turning ON is also known as Triggering.

With anode positive with respect to cathode, a thyristor

can be turned ON by any one of the following techniques
:–

• Forward voltage triggering

• Gate triggering
• dv/dt triggering
• Temperature triggering
• Light triggering
 Forward Voltage Triggering
• When break-over voltage (VBO) across a thyristor is exceeded
than the rated maximum voltage of the device, thyristor turns
ON.
• At the break-over voltage the value of the thyristor anode
current is called the latching current (IL) .
• Break-over voltage triggering is not normally used as a
triggering method, and most circuit designs attempt to avoid its
occurrence.
• When a thyristor is triggered by exceeding VBO, the fall time of
the forward voltage is quite low (about 1/20th of the time taken
when the thyristor is gate-triggered).
• However, a thyristor switches faster with VBO turn-ON than
with gate turn-ON, so permitted di/dt for breakover voltage
turn-on is lower.
•
Gate Triggering
Turning ON of thyristors by gate triggering is simple and efficient
method of firing the forward biased SCRs.
• In Gate Triggering, thyristor with forward breakover voltage (VBO),
higher than the normal working voltage is chosen. – This means
that thyristor will remain in forward blocking state with normal
working voltage across anode and cathode with gate open.
• Whenever thyristor’s turn-ON is required, a positive gate voltage
b/w gate and cathode is applied.
• With gate current established, charges are injected into the inner p
layer and voltage at which forward break over occurs is reduced.
Forward voltage at which device switches to on-state depends
upon the magnitude of gate current. – Higher the gate current,
lower is the forward break over voltage . When positive gate
current is applied, gate P layer is flooded with electrons from
cathode, as cathode N layer is heavily doped as compared to gate P
layer. As the thyristor is forward biased, some of these electrons
reach junction J2. As a result, width of depletion layer around
junction J2 is reduced. – This causes junction J2 to breakdown at an
applied voltage lower than forward break-over voltage VB0. If
magnitude of gate current is increased, more electrons will reach
junction J2, thus thyristor will get turned ON at a much lower
forward applied voltage.
 dv/dt triggering
• With forward voltage across anode & cathode of a thyristor,
two outer junctions (A & C) are forward biased but the inner
junction (J2) is reverse biased.
• The reversed biased junction J2 behaves like a capacitor
because of the space-charge present there.
• As p-n junction has capacitance, so larger the junction area
the larger the capacitance.
• If a voltage ramp is applied across the anode-to-cathode, a
current will flow in the device to charge the device
capacitance according to the relation: ic=Cdv/dt
• If the charging current becomes large enough, density of
moving current carriers in the device induces switch-on.
• This method of triggering is not desirable because high
charging current (Ic) may damage the thyristor.
 Light Triggering
• In this method light particles (photons) are made to strike
the reverse biased junction, which causes an increase in
the number of electron hole pairs and triggering of the
thyristor.
• For light-triggered SCRs, a slot (niche) is made in the
inner p-layer.
• When it is irradiated, free charge carriers are generated
just like when gate signal is applied b/w gate and cathode.
• Pulse light of appropriate wavelength is guided by optical fibers for
irradiation.
• If the intensity of this light thrown on the recess exceeds a certain
value, forward-biased SCR is turned on. Such a thyristor is known as
light-activated SCR (LASCR).
• Light-triggered thyristors is mostly used in high voltage direct
current (HVDC) transmission systems.
Dynamic Characteristics
•
Turn-On
Turn ON mechanism:-
mechanism
• When a positive gate signal is applied to a forward biased SCR, the transition of
SCR from blocking state to conducting state is called as turn ON mechanism.
• The time taken for SCR to traverse from the blocking state to conducting state is
called as turn on time.
• Turn on time is divided into 3 periods.
• tON = td + tr + tp
• td = delay time, tp or ts = peak time (or) spread time
• when the gate current reaches 0.9IG the anode current IA starts increasing and
reaches 0.1IA (10% of its max value)
• The time taken for anode current to reach 0.1IA is called as delay time(td).
• In other words, it is the time taken for anode voltage to fall from VA to 0.9VA
• The anode current further increases and reaches 0.9IA.
• The time taken by the anode current to increases from 0.1IA to 0.9IA is called as
rise time(tr).
• In other words, it is the time taken by the anode voltage to fall from 0.9VA to 0.1VA
• Spread Time or Peak time (ts or tp)
• It is time taken by the anode current to rise from ( 0.9IA to maximum value of IA)
90% to 100% of its full value. (or)
• It is the time taken by VA to fall from 0.1VA to it’s ON state voltage drop(near by
zero).
• During this time the conduction spreads over the entire cross-section of cathode
and so electrons spread over all the junctions.
 Effect of di/dt
• Main Factor determining tr is the nature of the anode
current
If RL circuit di/dt is slow-tr more
If Rc circuit di/dt is high----tr less

If di/dt is very high-----Since the gate cathode junction is very

small>Power loss takes place at a smaller area>junction
temperature^-----local hot spots can occur-----device can get
damaged

So,di/dt should never exceed rated di/dt----it has to be

controlled
 Turn-off mechanism
• Turning OFF an SCR means bringing the SCR from conducting state to blocking
state.
• To turn off an SCR two things are to be done
(1) Reduce the anode current below its holding current level.
(2) Application of reverse voltage.
• When the anode current is zero, if we apply forward voltage to the SCR, the device
will not be able to block this forward voltage due to the fact that excess charge
carriers are still at the junctions, so the device will start conducting even when the
gate signal is not applied.
• In order to avoid this, reverse biasing of SCR is done to remove the excess charge
carriers from all four layers.
• The turn OFF time is defined as the time from the instant the anode current
becomes zero to the instant SCR reaches its forward blocking ability.
Turn off time tq = trr + tgr
trr = Reverse recovery time
tgr =Gate recovery time
Reverse recovery process is the removal of excessive charge carries from the
top and bottom layers of SCR.
• At t1; current IA = 0
After t1; IA build up in the reverse direction, due to the charge carriers stored in
the four layers.
• Reverse recovery current removes the excessive carriers from junctions J1 and
J3 during the time t1 to t3. (Reverse recovery current flows due sweeping out of
holes from top p-layer and electrons from bottom n layer)
• At t2 carrier density decreases ---IRR decays to zero
a. Due to the rapid di/dt –Voltage spike in the reverse voltage –So,
terminal of SCR can get damaged
b. This is avoided by using Protection circuit.(RC element)
• At t3 Irr falls nearly zero, J1 and J3 recovers(RB)
a. But some charge carriers are trapped in J2 .They can be removed
only through recombination.
b. Time taken for recombination(t3-t4)tgr—gate recovery time.
• After t4-Forward voltage can be applied to SCR –will not get turned
ON
• tq- device turn off time
• tc- circuit turn off time
• In Practice tc>tq ---Otherwise undesirable turn on can take place.
 Reverse Recovery Time (trr)
• It is the time taken for the removal of excessive carriers from top
and bottom layer of SCR.
• At t2: When nearly 60% of charges are removed from the outer two
layers, the reverse recovery current decreases.
• This decaying causes a reverse voltage to be applied across the SCR.
• At t3 all excessive carriers from J1 and J3 is removed.
• The reverse voltage across SCR removes the excessive carriers from
junction J2.
• Gate recovery process is the removal of excessive carriers from
J2 junction by application of reverse voltage.
• Time taken for removal of trapped charges from J2 is called gate
recovery time(tgr).
• At t4 all the carriers are removed and the device moves to the
forward blocking mode.
• Converter grade SCR-----SCR with slow turn-off
time—(50 us-100us)
• Cheap---used in AC circuits and rectifier circuits
• Inverter grade SCR-----SCR with fast turn-off
time—(<50 us)
• Costilier ----used in DC circuits and Inverters
From the triggering circuit, we get,
Es = Vg + IgRs
Where,
Es = gate source voltage
Vg = gate cathode voltage
Ig = gate current
Rs = gate source resistance
Es /Rs-Current should not harm the Source as well as the gate circuit.
If Rs is low external circuit can be connected.
So, External resistance can be connected across the gate terminal
If Vgmin & Igmin –Min gate current and voltage to turn on the SCR.
Then, Current through R1= Vgmin /R1
Es = Vgmin + IRSRs; IRS= Igmin + (Vgmin /R1)
=[Igmin + (Vgmin /R1)]+ Vgmin
• Gate Characteristics

• Gate characteristic gives us a brief idea to operate it within a safe region of applied
gate voltage and current. So this is a very important characteristic regarding thyristor.
• At the time of manufacturing each SCR or thyristor is specified with the maximum gate
voltage limit (Vg-max), gate current limit (Ig-max) and maximum average gate power
dissipation limit (Pgav).
• These limits should not be exceeded to protect the SCR from damage and there is also a
specified minimum voltage (Vg-min) and minimum current (Ig-min) for proper operation
of thyristor.
• Curve1—lowest Voltage value that must be applied to turn On the device
• Curve 2-Highest possible Voltage that can be safely applied to the gate circuit
• Each SCR has maximum Vgmax and Igmax which should not be exceeded to avoid the
permanent damage to SCR
• For reliable turn On—SCR Vg and Ig should be atleast Vg-min and Ig-min
• Vng----Non trigger gate voltage
• For trigger circuits prior to applying gate signal it should be ensured that all the noise
signal should be less than Vng
 Selecting the OP
• A Load-line(Between A and D)
• OA—ES and OD Current---ES/RS
• Consider a SCR whose Gate charctertics is Curve 3
• Now the intersection of the characteristics and load line gives
the Operating point S
• So for this Scr Vg and Ig can be shifted from S to S2 and S3(Op
should lie between C1 and C2)
• The gradient of the Load line Ad= OA/OD is RS (required gate
source voltage)
• Each SCR has maximum Vgmax and Igmax which should not be
exceeded to avoid the permanent damage to SCR
• For reliable turn On—SCR Vg and Ig should be atleast Vg-min and
Ig-min
• Vng----Non trigger gate voltage
• For trigger circuits prior to applying gate signal it should be
ensured that all the noise signal should be less than Vng