Thyristors

DIAC and TRIAC

 Introduction
 Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) or Thyristor
is a unidirectional semiconductor device
made of silicon
 Compared to transistors, thyristors have

lower on-state conduction losses and higher

power handling capability.
 It has a rating of 1200V / 1500A
 Used as Rectifiers
 Used in controlling high power electrical

appliances
Construction and Symbol
SCR/Thyristor is a three-terminal, four-layer semiconductor
device consisting of alternate layers of p-type and n-type
material with three junctions.
The three terminals of a Thyristor
Anode A,
Cathode K
Gate G

The anode is connected to the outer p-layer, cathode

to the outer n-layer and gate to the internal p-layer.

Anode is the positive terminal and Cathode is the negative terminal.

The Gate controls the flow of current between anode and cathode.
Thyristor -Block Mode
 A thyristor with a P-N-P-N structure has three
junctions: PN(J1), NP(J2), and PN(J3).
 The anode is made positive with respect to the
cathode using VAK -the outer junctions,PN (J1)and
PN(J3) are forward-biased
 The center NP (J2) junction is reverse-biased. The NP
junction blocks the flow of a positive current from
the anode to cathode. The thyristor is said to be in a
forward blocking state.
 Also if VAK is Negative the flow of a negative current
is blocked by the outer PN junctions J1 & J3. The
thyristor is in a reverse
Allblocking state. are with Gate open-
the above explanation
No Voltage at the gate VG=0
 Thyristors-Conduction mode
 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 an appropriate value of VG, the thyristor can be
switched into the “ON” state suddenly.
 Thyristor ON state is called Forward Conduction Mode
 Thyristor-Characteristics
Forward Break Over Voltage VBO IT
Forward volt-drop
The anode-cathode voltage at which breakdown occurs (conducting)

LATCHING CURRENT L I Latching

current Gate
Forward
The minimum anode current required to Reverse break-over
Triggered
maintain the thyristor in the on-state breakdown
Holding VG
voltage
voltage
immediately after it is turned on and the current IL
gate signal has been removed
IH
HOLDING CURRENT H I VBO VAK
The minimum anode current to maintain Forward
the thyristor in the on-state Reverse leakage
leakage current

IL > IH
current

The SCR can be made to conduct either

(i) By increasing the positive voltage VAKapplied at anode terminal (A) beyond the
Break Over Voltage, VBO
(ii) By applying positive voltage VG at the gate terminal (G)
 Switching Characteristic (IV)
Increase in Gate current or increase in VG,
The thyristor can be made to conduct at lower values of Anode voltage VAK
 Thyristor- Two Transistor Analogy

• With supply voltage VAK less than VBO .

• When the gate Voltage VG=0, there is base current Ib=0.
• For the base of the T2 is connected with the collector of T1.
• No current flows in the collector of T2 and hence that of T1. SCR is in OFF condition.
• With small gate current flow through the base of T2 which means its collector current will
increase. The collector of the transistor T2 is connected with base of transistor T1.
• The collector current of T2 is the base current of T1. Therefore, the collector current of T1
increases. But collector current of T1 is the base current of T2.
• This action is accumulative since an increase of current in one transistor causes an increase
of current in the other transistor. Hence the SCR is in ON condition.
Two Transistor Analogy
 Thyristor Application
As a Controlled Rectifier/Voltage controller
 TRIAC -TRIode AC switch
 A Triac is defined as a three terminal AC switch which is different from Thyristor
in the sense that it can conduct in both the directions that is whether the applied
gate signal is positive or negative, it will conduct.
 The term TRIAC is derived by combining the first three letters of the word
“TRIODE” and the word “AC”.
 Two SCRs are connected in inverse parallel with gate terminal as common.
 Can be triggered with positive or negative polarity voltage at gate.
 A TRIAC is capable of conducting in both the directions.
 The TRIAC, is thus, a bidirectional thyristor with three terminals.
 It is widely used for the control of power in AC circuits.
Construction
 TRIAC structure is seen with several areas of N-type and P-
type material that form a pair of back to back thyristors
 Consists of three terminals namely, main terminal 1(MT1),
main terminal 2(MT2), and gate terminal G.
 Gate terminals is connected to both the N and P regions due
to which gate signal may be applied which is irrespective of
the polarity of the signal.
Working
 TRIAC is able to conduct in a number of ways - more than the
thyristor.
 It can conduct current irrespective of the voltage polarity of
terminals MT1 and MT2
 It can also be triggered by either positive or negative gate currents.
Four quadrant operation
First Quadrant Operation of Triac
 Voltage at terminal MT2 is positive with respect to terminal MT1 and gate voltage is also positive with respect to
first terminal.
Second Quadrant Operation of Triac
 Voltage at terminal 2 is positive with respect to terminal 1 and gate voltage is negative with respect to terminal 1.
Third Quadrant Operation of Triac
 Voltage of terminal 1 is positive with respect to terminal 2 and the gate voltage is negative.
Fourth Quadrant Operation of Triac
 Voltage of terminal 2 is negative with respect to terminal 1 and gate voltage is positive.
I-V Characteristics of TRIAC
With Varying Gate current
Simple Applications of the TRIAC:
The TRIAC as a bidirectional thyristor has various
applications.
 Bidirectional voltage control

 AC drives and control

Gate pulse at t=α

G
DIAC
 A DIAC is a diode that conducts electrical current
only after its breakover voltage (VBO) has been
reached.
 DIAC stands for “Diode for Alternating Current”.
 DIAC is a device which has two electrodes, and it is
a member of the thyristor family.
 DIACs are used in the triggering of thyristors &
TRIAC.
 DIACs have no gate electrode
 Construction
• A DIAC is a bi-directional semiconductor switch that can be turned
ON in both forward and reverse polarities.
• It is a device which consists of three/five layers and two terminals.
The construction is almost the same as that of the transistor.
• There is no base terminal in the DIAC
• The P and N regions have almost the same level of doping
• It gives symmetrical switching characteristics for either polarity of
voltages
 Working
 DIAC circuits use the fact that a DIAC only conducts current only
after a certain breakdown voltage has been exceeded.
 After the DIAC breakdown voltage occurs, the resistance of the
component decreases abruptly and this leads to a sharp decrease in the
voltage drop across the DIAC, and a corresponding increase in
current.
 The DIAC will remain in its conducing state until the current flow
through it drops below a particular value known as the break over
current IBO.
 When the current falls below the holding/break over current, the
DIAC switches back to its high resistance, or non-conducting state.
 The behavior of the device is approximately equal in both directions
IBO

-IBO
Applications of DIAC
 Triggering of TRIAC is the main application of
DIAC
 Triggering point is the instance at which the

TRIAC starts to conduct.

 DIAC triggers TRIAC at required instances.

Time T1 = T2 is varied by VR1 resistor

Comparison of DIAC & TRIAC
Comparison of SCR/Thyristor
&
TRIAC