Thyristors & SCR
Dr. E.Papanasam
[email protected]
Assoc. Prof.
School of Electronics
VIT Chennai
Thyristors
• Semiconductor device uses internal feedback to produce switching action
• The most important thyristors
– Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)
– TRIAC
• Can switch large currents on and off like power FETs, SCR and the TRIAC c
• Used for overvoltage protection, motor controls, heaters, lighting systems,
and other heavy-current loads.
Thyristor Equivalent Circuit
• The Four-Layer Diode
• Q1 is a pnp device, Q2 is an npn device
• Collector of Q1 drives the base of Q2 .
• Collector of Q2 drives the base of Q1 .
• Positive feedback
• Any change in the base current of Q2 is amplified
and fed back through Q1 to magnify the original
change
• This positive feedback continues changing the
base current of Q2 until both transistors go into
either saturation or cutoff
Thyristor as a Latch
• The circuit is stable in either of two states: open or closed
• Remain in either state indefinitely until acted on by an outside force.
– If the circuit is open, it stays open until something increases the base
current of Q2
– If the circuit is closed, it stays closed until something decreases the
base current of Q2
• Thyristor called a latch
– Because the circuit can remain in either state indefinitely
Latching circuit
Latch
• A latch connected to a load resistor with a supply voltage of VCC
• Assume that the latch is open
• Because there is no current through the load resistor, the voltage across
the latch equals the supply voltage
• So the operating point is at the lower end of the dc load line
Closing a Latch
• The only way to close the latch is by breakover
– Using a large enough supply voltage VCC to break down the Q1
collector diode.
– Since the collector current of Q1 increases the base current of Q2 , the
positive feedback will start
– This drives both transistors into saturation
• When saturated, both transistors ideally look like short-circuits, and the
latch is closed
• Ideally, the latch has zero voltage across it when it is closed and the
operating point is at the upper end of the load line
• Breakover can also occur if Q2 breaks down first.
Opening a Latch
• By reducing the VCC supply to zero
• This forces the transistors to switch from saturation to cutoff
• We call this type of opening low-current drop-out
– Because it depends on reducing the latch current to a value low
enough to bring the transistors out of saturation
Breakover Characteristic
• When the device is at cutoff, it has zero
current
• If the voltage across diode tries to exceed VB ,
the device breaks over and moves rapidly
along the dashed line to the saturation region
• When the diode is in saturation, it is operating
on the upper line
• As long as the current through it is greater
than the holding current IH, the diode remains
latched in the on state
• If the current becomes less than IH, the device
switches into cutoff
Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
• Most widely used thyristor
• Can switch very large currents on and off
• SCRs are capable of controlling large currents up to 1.5 kA and voltages in
excess of 2 kV
• Used to control motors, ovens, air conditioners, and induction heaters
Transistor latch with Trigger input
• The trigger momentarily increases the base current of Q2 .
• Starts the positive feedback, which drives both transistors into saturation.
• The input is called the gate, the top is the anode, and the bottom is the
cathode
• The SCR is far more useful than a four-layer diode because the gate
triggering is easier than breakover triggering
• SCR is equivalent to a latch with a trigger input
Basic SCR Circuit
• Since the gate of an SCR is connected to the base of an internal transistor,
it takes at least 0.7 V to trigger an SCR.
• Data sheets list this voltage as the gate trigger voltage VGT
Resetting the SCR
• After the SCR has turned on, it stays on even though you reduce the gate
supply Vin to zero
• In this case, the output remains low indefinitely
• To reset the SCR, you must reduce the anode-to-cathode current to a
value less than its holding current IH
• This can be done by reducing VCC to a low value
• Since the holding current flows through the load resistor the supply
voltage for turnoff has to be less than:
Quiz
• SCR has a trigger voltage of 0.75 V and a trigger current of 7 mA. What is
the input voltage that turns the SCR on? If the holding current is 6 mA,
what is the supply voltage that turns it off?
• Minimum input voltage needed to trigger the SCR
• Vin = 0.75 V + (7 mA)(1 kΩ) = 7.75 V
• Supply voltage that turns off the SCR is:
• VCC = 0.7 V + (6 mA)(100 Ω) = 1.3 V
Tutorial
• An abrupt Si p-n junction has circular cross section with area 1e-4 cm2
doped with Na = 5x1016 cm-3 and Nd = 5x1015 cm-3. Ratio of diffusion
coefficient to diffusion length for hole and electron are 1080 cm/s and
13430 cm/s respectively. Assume T = 300 K and intrinsic carrier
concentration ni = 1.5 x1010 cm-3 .
• Determine the minority carrier concentration (in cm-3 ) in both the p and n
region
• Determine the current (in A) under forward bias voltage of V = 0.8 V
• Determine the current (in fA) under reverse bias voltage of V = -3.3 V
• pn = 4.5 x 104 cm-3; np = 0.45 x 104 cm-3
• 0.04
• -1.724
• Transistor parameters of a common-emitter circuit shown below are: VBB =
3 V, RB = 56x103 Ω, RC = 1.0x103 Ω, VCC = 14 V, VBE(on) = 0.7 V, ICBO = 12 fA
and VCE = 4 V
• Calculate
• a) dc current gain β
• b) Collector leakage current (in pA)
• c) Power dissipation (in mW) of the transistor
