Presentation on

Power
Thyristers /SCR
BY
Ashvani Shukla
MANAGER(C&I)
ME(I&C)
BGR ENERGY

SCR / Thyristor
Introduction
Thyrister is a three
terminal device
having Gate ,Anode
and Cathode. Anode
is positive and
Cathode is negative
terminal
Gate terminal for a
controlling input
signal

GATE

CATHODE

ANODE

SCR/ Thyristor
A thyristor is normally four layer three-terminal device. Four layers are
formed by alternating n type and p type semiconductor materials.
Consequently there are three p n junctions formed in the device. It is a
bistable device. The three terminals of this device are called anode (A),
cathode (K) and gate (G) respectively. The gate (G) terminal is control
terminal of the device. That means, the current flowing through the
device is controlled by electrical signal applied to the gate (G) terminal.
The anode (A) and cathode (K) are the power terminals of the device
handle the large applied voltage and conduct the major current through
the thyristor. For example, when the device is connected in series with
load circuit, the load current will flow through the device from anode (A)
to cathode (K) but this load current will be controlled by the gate(G)
signal applied to the device externally. A tyristor is on off switch which
is used to control output power of an electrical circuit by switching on
and off the load circuit periodically in a preset interval. The main
difference of thyristors with other digital and electronics switches is that,
a thyristor can handle large current and can withstand large voltage,
whereas other digital and electronic switches handle only tiny current
and tiny voltage.

SCR / Thyristor
Circuit Symbol
GATE

ANODE
CATHODE

Basic Construction of Thyristor

A high- resistive, n-base region, presents in every thyristor. As

it is seen in the figure, this n-base region is associated with
junction, J2. This must support the large applied forward
voltages that occur when the switch is in its off- or forwardblocking state (non-conducting). This n-base region is typically
doped with impurity phosphorous atoms at a concentration of
1013 to 1014 per cube centimeter. This region is typically made
10 to 100 micrometer thick to support large voltages. Highvoltage thyristors are generally made by diffusing aluminum or
gallium into both surfaces to create p-doped regions forming
deep junctions with the n-base. The doping profile of the pregions ranges from about 1015 to 1017 per cube centimeter.
These p-regions can be up to tens of micrometer thick. The
cathode region (typically only a few micrometer thick) is
formed by using phosphorous atoms at a doping density of 1017
to 1018 cube centimeter. For higher forward-blocking voltage
rating of thyristor, the n-base region is made thicker. But
thicker n - based high-resistive region slows down on off
operation of the device. This is because of more stored charge
during conduction. A device rated for forward blocking voltage
of 1 kV will operate much more slowly than the thyristor rated
for 100 V. Thicker high-resistive region also causes larger

conduction. Impurity atoms, such as platinum or gold, or

electron irradiation are used to create charge-carrier
recombination sites in the thyristor. The large number of
recombination sites reduces the mean carrier lifetime (average
time that an electron or hole moves through the Si before
recombining with its opposite charge-carrier type). A reduced
carrier lifetime shortens the switching times (in particular the
turn-off or recovery time) at the expense of increasing the
forward-conduction drop. There are other effects associated
with the relative thickness and layout of the various regions
that make up modern thyristors, but the major trade off
between forward-blocking voltage rating and switching times
and between forward-blocking voltage rating and forwardvoltage drop during conduction should be kept in mind. (In
signal-level electronics an analogous trade off appears as a
lowering of amplification (gain) to achieve higher operating
frequencies, and is often referred to as the gain-bandwidth
product.)

Basic Operating Principle of Thyristor

Although there are different types of thyristors but

basic operating principle of all thyristor more or
less same. The figure below represents a conceptual
view of a typical thyristor. There are three pn junctions
J1, J2 and J3. There are also three terminals anode (A),
cathode (K) and gate (G) as levelled in the figure. When
the anode (A) is in higher potential with respect to the
cathode, the junctions J1 and J3 are forward biased and
J2 is reverse biased and the thyristor is in the forward
blocking mode. A thyristor can be considered as back to
back connected two bipolar transistors. A p-n-p-n
structure of thyristor can be represented by the p-n-p
and n-p-n transistors, as shown in the figure. Here in this
device, the collector current of one transistor is used as
base current of other transistor. When the device is in
forward blocking mode if a hole current is injected
through the gate (G) terminal, the device is triggered on.

When potential is applied in reverse direction, the thyristor

behaves as a reverse biased diode. That means it blocks
current to flow in revere direction. Considering ICO to be the
leakage current of each transistor in cut-off condition, the
anode current can be expressed in terms of gate current.
Where is the common base current gain of the transistor
( = IC/IE). The anode current becomes arbitrarily large as
(1 + 2) approaches unity. As the anodecathode voltage
increases, the depletion region expands and reduces the
neutral base width of the n1 and p2 regions. This causes a
corresponding increase in the of the two transistors. If a
positive gate current of sufficient magnitude is applied to
the thyristor, a significant amount of electrons will be
injected across the forward-biased junction, J3, into the base
of the n1p2n2 transistor. The resulting collector current
provides base current to the p1n1p2 transistor. The
combination of the positive feedback connection of the npn
and pnp BJTs and the current-dependent base transport
factors eventually turn the thyristor on by regenerative
action. Among the power semiconductor devices known, the
thyristor shows the lowest forward voltage drop at large
current densities. The large current flow between the anode
and cathode maintains both transistors in saturation region,
and gate control is lost once the thyristor latches on.

Transient Operation of Thyristor

A thyristor is not turned on as soon as the gate current is injected,

there is one minimum time delay is required for regenerative
action. After this time delay, the anode current starts rising rapidly
to on-state value. The rate of rising of anode current can only be
limited by external current elements. The gate signal can only turn
on the thyristor but it cannot turn off the device. It is turned off
naturally when the anode current tends to flow in reverse direction
during the reverse cycle of the alternating current. A thyristor
exhibits turn-off reverse recovery characteristics just like a diode.
Excess charge is removed once the current crosses zero and
attains a negative value at a rate determined by external circuit
elements. The reverse recovery peak is reached when either
junction J1 or J3 becomes reverse biased. The reverse recovery
current starts decaying, and the anodecathode voltage rapidly
attains its off-state value. Because of the finite time required for
spreading or collecting the charge plasma during turn-on or turnoff stage, the maximum dI/dt and dV/dt that may be imposed
across the device are limited in magnitude. Further, device
manufacturers specify a circuit-commutated recovery time, for the
thyristor, which represents the minimum time for which the
thyristor must remain in its reverse blocking mode before forward
voltage is reapplied.

A thyristor is a four layer 3 junction p-n-p-n semiconductor device

consisting of at least three p-n junctions, functioning as an electrical
switch for high power operations. It has three basic terminals,
namely the anode, cathode and the gate mounted on the
semiconductor layers of the device. The symbolic diagram and the
basic circuit diagram for determining the characteristics of
thyristor is shown in the figure below.

Reverse Blocking Mode of Thyristor

Initially for the reverse blocking mode of the thyristor, the

cathode is made positive with respect to anode by supplying
voltage E and the gate to cathode supply voltage Es is detached
initially by keeping switch S open. For understanding this mode we
should look into the fourth quadrant where the thyristor is reverse
biased. Here Junctions J1 and J3 are reverse biased whereas the
junction J2 is forward biased. The behavior of the thyristor here is
similar to that of two diodes are connected in series with reverse
voltage applied across them. As a result only a small leakage
current of the order of a few Amps flows. This is the reverse
blocking mode or the off-state, of the thyristor. If the reverse
voltage is now increased, then at a particular voltage, known as the
critical breakdown voltage VBR, an avalanche occurs at J1 and J3 and
the reverse current increases rapidly.

A large current associated with VBR gives rise to more losses

in the SCR, which results in heating. This may lead to
thyristor damage as the junction temperature may exceed
its permissible temperature rise. It should, therefore, be
ensured that maximum working reverse voltage across a
thyristor does not exceed VBR. When reverse voltage applied
across a thyristor is less than VBR, the device offers very
high impedance in the reverse direction. The SCR in the
reverse blocking mode may therefore be treated as open
circuit.

ANODE

P
J1
N
J2
GATE

P
J3
N

CATHODE
Reverse blocking mode

Forward Blocking Mode

Now considering the anode is positive with respect to the cathode, with gate
kept in open condition. The thyristor is now said to be forward biased as
shown the figure below.

As we can see the junctions J1 and J3arenow forward biased but junction
J2goes into reverse biased condition. In this particular mode, a small current,
called forward leakage current is allowed to flow initially as shown in the
diagram for characteristics of thyristor. Now, if we keep on increasing the
forward biased anode to cathode voltage.

In this particular mode, the thyristor conducts currents from anode to

cathode with a very small voltage drop across it. A thyristor is brought from
forward blocking mode to forward conduction mode by turning it on by
exceeding the forward break over voltage or by applying a gate pulse
between gate and cathode. In this mode, thyristor is in on-state and
behaves like a closed switch. Voltage drop across thyristor in the on state is
of the order of 1 to 2 V depending beyond a certain point, then the reverse
biased junction J2 will have an avalanche breakdown at a voltage called
forward break over voltage VB0 of the thyristor. But, if we keep the forward
voltage less than VBO, we can see from the characteristics of thyristor, that
the device offers a high impedance. Thus even here the thyristor operates
as an open switch during the forward blocking mode.

ANODE

P
J1
N
J2
GATE

P
J3
N

CATHODE
Forward blocking mode

Forward Conduction Mode

When the anode to cathode forward voltage is increased,

with gate circuit open, the reverse junction J2 will have an
avalanche breakdown at forward break over voltage VBO
leading to thyristor turn on. Once the thyristor is turned on
we can see from the diagram for characteristics of
thyristor, that the point M at once shifts toward N and then
anywhere between N and K. Here NK represents the
forward conduction mode of the thyristor. In this mode of
operation, the thyristor conducts maximum current with
minimum voltage drop, this is known as the forward
conduction forward conduction or the turn on mode of the
thyristor.

V/I Characteristics
Ia

Ih
Ibo
v

Vh
Vbo
Forward
blocking
voltage

When positive potential applied to the anode with respect

to the cathode, ideally no current will flow through the
device and this condition is called forward blocking state
but when appropriate gate signal is applied, a large
forward anode current starts flowing, with a small anode
cathode potential drop and the device becomes in forwardconduction state. Although after removing the gate signal,
the device will remain in its forward-conduction mode until
the polarity of the load reverses. Some thyristors are also
controllable in switching from forward-conduction back to a
forward-blocking state.

Turn ON Time of SCR

A forward biased thyristor can be turned on by

applying a positive voltage between gate and cathode
terminal. But it takes some transition time to go from
forward blocking mode to forward conduction mode.
This transition time is called turn on time of SCR
and it can be subdivided into three small intervals as
delay time (td) rise time(tr), spread time(ts).

Delay Time of SCR

After application of gate current, the thyristor will

start conducting over a very tiny region. Delay time
of SCR can be defined as the time taken by the gate
current to increase from 90% to 100% of its final
value Ig. From another point of view, delay time is
the interval in which anode current rises from forward
leakage current to 10% of its final value and at the
same time anode voltage will fall from 100% to 90%
of its initial value Va. Rise Time of SCR

Rise time of SCR in the time taken by the anode

current to rise from 10% to 90% of its final value. At
the same time anode voltage will fall from 90% to
10% of its initial value Va. The phenomenon of
decreasing anode voltage and increasing anode
current is entirely dependent upon the type of the
load. For example if we connect a inductive load,
voltage will fall in a faster rate than the current
increasing. This is happened because induction does
not allow initially high voltage change through it. On
the other hand if we connect a capacitive load it
does not allow initial high voltage change through it,
hence current increasing rate will be faster than the
voltage falling rate.

High increasing rate of dia/dt can create local hot

spot in the device which is not suitable for proper
operation. So, it is advisable to use a inductor in
series with the device to tackle high dia/dt. Usually
value of maximum allowable di/dt is in the range of
20 to 200 A per microsecond.

Spread Time of SCR

It is the time taken by the anode current to rise from

90% to 100% of its final value. At the same time the
anode voltage decreases from 10% of its initial
value to smallest possible value. In this interval of
time conduction spreads all over the area of
cathode and the SCR will go to fully ON State.
Spread time of SCR depends upon the crosssectional area of cathode.

Vg

Gate Pulse

Va
Ig
0.9Ia

Turn OFF Time of SCR

Once the thyristor is switched on or in other point of

view, the anode current is above latching current,
the gate losses control over it. That means gate
circuit cannot turn off the device. For turning off the
SCR anode current must fall below the holding
current. After anode current fall to zero we cannot
apply forward voltage across the device due to
presence of carrier charges into the four layers. So
we must sweep out or recombine these charges to
proper turn off of SCR. So turn off time of SCR
can be defined as the interval between anode
current falls to zero and device regains its forward
blocking mode. On the basis of removing carrier
charges from the four layers, turn off time of SCR
can be divided into two time regions, Reverse
Recovery Time.

Gate Recovery Time

Reverse Recovery Time

It is the interval in which change carriers remove

from J1, and J3 junction. At time t1, anode current falls
to zero and it will continue to increase in reverse
direction with same slope (di/dt) of the forward
decreasing current. This negative current will help to
sweep out the carrier charges from junction J1 and J3.
At the time t2 carrier charge density is not sufficient
to maintain the reverse current hence after t2 this
negative current will start to decrease. The value of
current at t2 is called reverse recovery current. Due
to rapid decreasing of anode current, a reverse
spike of voltage may appear across the SCR. Total
recovery time t3 - t1 is called reverse recovery
time. After that, device will start to follow the
applied reverse voltage and it gains the property to
block the forward voltage.

Gate Recovery Time

After sweeping out the carrier charges from junction

J1 and J3 during reverse recovery time, there still
remain trapped charges in J2 junction which prevent
the SCR from blocking the forward voltage. These
trapped charge can be removed by recombination
only and the interval in which this recombination is
done, called gate recovery time.

Application of Thyristor

As we already said that a thyristor is designed to handle

large current and voltage, it is used mainly in electrical
power circuit with system voltage more than 1 kV or
currents more than 100 A. The main advantage of using
thyristors as power control device is that as the power is
controlled by periodic on off switching operation hence
(ideally) there is no internal power loss in the device for
controlling power in output circuit. Thyristors are commonly
used in some alternating power circuits to control
alternating output power of the circuit to optimize internal
power loss at the expense of switching speed.

In this case thyristors are turned from forward-blocking into

forward-conducting state at some predetermined phase
angle of the input sinusoidal anodecathode voltage
waveform. Thyristors are also very popularly used in
inverter for converting direct power to alternating power of
specified frequency. These are also used in converter to
convert an alternating power into alternating power of
different amplitude and frequency.This is the most common
application of thyristor.