Thyristors

Thyristor
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Circuit symbol for a thyristor

An SCR rated about 100 amperes, 1200 volts mounted on a heat sink - the two small wires are the gate trigger leads
The thyristor is a solid-state semiconductor device with four layers of alternating N and P-type material. They act as bistable switches, conducting when their gate receives a current pulse, and continue to conduct for as long as they are forward biased (that is, as long as the voltage across the device has not reversed).
Some sources define silicon controlled rectifiers and thyristors as synonymous.[1]
Other sources define thyristors as a larger set of devices with at least four layers of alternating N and P-type material, including:[2][3]
silicon controlled rectifier
gate turn-off thyristor (GTO)
triode ac switch (TRIAC)
Static Induction Transistor/Thyristor (SIT/SITh)
MOS Controlled Thyristor (MCT)
Distributed Buffer - Gate Turn-off Thyristor (DB-GTO)
integrated gate commutated thyristor (IGCT)
MOS composite static induction thyristor/CSMT
reverse conducting thyristor
Contents[hide]
1 Function
1.1 Function of the gate terminal
1.2 Switching characteristics
2 History
3 Applications
3.1 Snubber circuits
3.2 HVDC electricity transmission
4 Comparisons to other devices
5 Failure modes
6 Silicon carbide thyristors
7 Types of thyristor
8 See also
9 Notes
10 Further reading
11 External links


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Silicon-controlled rectifier
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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into thyristor. (Discuss)
A silicon-controlled rectifier (or semiconductor-controlled rectifier) is a four-layer solid state device that controls current. The name "silicon controlled rectifier" or SCR is General Electric's trade name for a type of thyristor. The SCR was developed by a team of power engineers led by Gordon Hall and commercialised by Frank W. "Bill" Gutzwiller in 1957.
Contents[hide]
1 Theory of operation
2 Construction of SCR
3 Modes of operation
4 See also
5 External links