Dr.

AMBEDKAR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

(An Autonomous Institution, Aided by Government of Karnataka)

Near Jnana Bharati Campus, Bangalore-560056.
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS

Seminar presentation on
THYRISTORS

Presented by- RASHMI S HUGAR

(Department of Electrical and Electronics)
Engineering
MTech in Power Electronics
CONTENT
• Introduction
• Basic structure
• I-V Characteristics
• Physical of device operation
Introduction
• Four layer semiconductor device of alternating p and n material
• The word Thyristor is coined from THYRatron and transISTOR
• Two states : On and off.
• Silicon controlled rectifier: SCR
• Trade name of thyristors commercialized by general electric in 1957
• 4 layered 3-terminals device
• Have the highest power handling capability
• Rating of 1200V / 1500A
• Switching frequency : 1KHz to 20KHz
Symbol and construction

•Alternately N-type or P-type material. For example P-N-P-N

•The controlled terminal called gate is attached to P-type material near to the cathode
Basic structure

Figure : structural details of a generic thyristor

• The appropriate thickness of each of the four alternating layers of p-
type and n-type doping that comprise the structure as well as the
approximate doping densities
• In terms of their dimensions thyristors are among the largest
semiconductor devices made
• A complete silicon wafer as large as 10cm in diameter may be used to
make a single high-power thyristor
• The layout of the gates and cathodes of thyristors varies greatly
depending on the diameter of the thyristor
I-V Characteristics

Figure : current – voltage characteristics of a thyristor

Characteristics of thyristors
• When the anode is at a positive potential VAK with respect to the cathode with no
voltage applied at the gate
• Junction J1 and J3 are forward biased. while junction J2 is reverse biased. As J2 is
reversed biased, no conduction takes place
• Now if VAK is increased beyond the breakdown voltage VBO of the thyristor.
• avalanche breakdown of J2 takes place and the thyristor starts conducting
• If a positive potential VG is applied at the gate terminal with respect to the
cathode
• The breakdown of the junction J2 occurs at a lower value of VAK. by selecting
appropriate value of VG. the thyristor can be switch into on state suddenly
Physical of device operation
• 1) Blocking states :
• The idealized one dimensional structure shown in the figure
• An approximate low frequency equivalent circuit compose of a pnp an npn
transistor as shown in figure (b)
• In the reverse blocking state, the anode based negative with respect to the
cathode junction J1 and J3
• J1 and J3 indicated are reverse biased and J2 is forward biased
• junction J1 must support the reverse voltage because J3 has a low breakdown
voltage as a consequence of heavy doping on both sides of the junction
• The reverse blocking capability of junction J1 is usually limited by the length of the
n1 region
• In the forward blocking state. The junction J1 and J3 are the forward
biased and J2 is reverse biased
• The doping densities in each of the layers are such that n1 layer where
the depletion region of the reverse biased J2 junction appears
• Thus this region determine the blocking capability this time for the
forward blocking state
• The thyristor is designed so that the forward blocking voltage VBO will
be about the same as the reverse blocking voltage VRWM
2) ON-STATE OPERATION :
• In the on state there is strong minority carrier injection in all our of the
thyristor structure
• The stored charge distribution in the four region is shown in figure
• Junction J2 is forward biased and the BJTs in the equivalent circuit are
saturated
• In this situation large forward currents can flow and only a small forward
voltage drop occurs
• Because of the large conductivity modulation represented by the stored
charge distribution illustrated
• The on state voltage is given approximately by
VAK(on) = VJ1 - VJ2 + VJ3 + Vn
Figure : on state carrier distribution in a thyristor
3) TURN-OFF PROCESS :
• Thyristor is latched into the on state the gate terminals no longer has
any control over the state of the device
• The gate cannot be used to turn the thyristor off
• Turn off can be accomplished only the external circuit, reducing the
anode current below the holding current for a minimum specified
period of time
• The simultaneous action of internal recombination of saturation and
carrier sweep out will remove enough stored charge so that the BJTs
are pulled out of saturation and into the active region
• The device will turn off via the regenerative connection of the
transistors
• A negative gate current cannot turn off the device because the
cathode region is much greater in area than the gate area
• When a negative gate current flows is can only locally reverse bias the
gate-cathode
Thank you