THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering THYRISTOR BASICS Thyristors are 4 layer (p-n-p-n) devices

that have a "latch type" switching action. There are 3 terminals on the device; anode(A), cathode(K) and gate(G) see Figure 1.
Anode IA VAK Gate Cathode Figure 1

When the device is reverse biassed (VAK negative) it behaves like a diode and blocks current until a large enough voltage is applied to cause avalanche breakdown (and device destruction). When the device is forward biassed (VAK positive) two states are possible: (a) Forward blocking - the device supports a large applied voltage with very little current flow (effectively a switch in the OPEN position). (b) Forward on-state - the device conducts forward current with very little (1V - 2V) forward voltage drop (effectively a switch in the CLOSED position). The transition from (a) to (b) can be made to occur by applying a voltage between the gate and cathode so that sufficient gate current for "turn-on" flows - this is the normal mode of operation. The device will also switch from (a) to (b) if the forward voltage exceeds a certain maximum value known as the breakover voltage - this causes device destruction and must be avoided.

Unfortunately the transition from (b) to (a) is much more difficult to arrange and cannot be achieved with conventional thyristors by reversing the gate current (see Gate-Turn-Off thyristors [1-3]). The only practically usable way in which a conducting thyristor can be turned off is to reduce the anode current to zero and at the same time to reverse bias the device for a duration exceeding the "turn-off time" tq. The time tq is a parameter of the device and is generally between 10 s and 300s depending on the application that the device is intended for. If the reverse bias time is insufficient (ie less than tq) then the device will start conducting again as soon as forward voltage is applied. Failure to achieve forward blocking after turn-off (commutation failure) can also be caused if the voltage across the device is allowed to rise too rapidly - all thyristors have maximum (dv/dt) rating which the circuit designer must ensure is not exceeded. An additional thyristor parameter that the designer must take into account is the maximum (di/dt) rating - this relates to the maximum allowable rate of rise of current at turn-on. During the early stages of the turn-on process the current is concentrated into areas of the silicon wafer near the gate since these begin to conduct first. If the current rises too rapidly the excessive current density will burn-out parts of the wafer rendering the whole device useless. In thyristor circuits fed from AC supplies, such as controlled rectifiers, the necessary conditions for turn-off of each device occur at the appropriate instant as a natural consequence of the way in which the supply voltage varies with time; this phenomenon is known as natural commutation. In thyristor circuits fed from DC supplies, such as choppers, natural commutation cannot occur and auxiliary commutation circuits must be provided so that the conditions for turn-off can be forced on the thyristor at the appropriate time; this is known as forced commutation see [1-3]. [1] "Power Diode and Thyristor Circuits", R M Davis, Peter Peregrinus Ltd. [2] "Principles of Power Electronics", J G Kassakian, M F Schlecht and G C Verghese, Addison Wesley. [3] "Power Electronics - Converters, Applications and Design" , N Mohan, T Underland and W Robbins, Wiley. Dr J C Clare 13/10/03