Thyristor

A thyristor (/θaɪˈrɪstər/, from a combination of Greek language θύρα, meaning "door" or "valve", and transistor ) is a solid-state semiconductor device which can be thought of as being a highly robust and switchable diode, allowing the passage of current in one direction but not the other, often under control of a gate electrode, that is used in high power applications like inverters and radar generators. It usually consists of four layers of alternating P- and N-type materials. It acts as a bistable switch (or a latch). There are two designs, differing in what triggers the conducting state. In a three-lead thyristor, a small current on its gate lead controls the larger current of the anode-to-cathode path. In a two-lead thyristor, conduction begins when the potential difference between the anode and cathode themselves is sufficiently large (breakdown voltage). The thyristor continues conducting until the voltage across the device is reverse-biased or the voltage is removed (by some other means), or through the control gate signal on newer types.

Some sources define "silicon-controlled rectifier" (SCR) and "thyristor" as synonymous. Other sources define thyristors as more complex devices that incorporate at least four layers of alternating N-type and P-type substrate.

The first thyristor devices were released commercially in 1956. Because thyristors can control a relatively large amount of power and voltage with a small device, they find wide application in control of electric power, ranging from light dimmers and electric motor speed control to high-voltage direct-current power transmission. Thyristors may be used in power-switching circuits, relay-replacement circuits, inverter circuits, oscillator circuits, level-detector circuits, chopper circuits, light-dimming circuits, low-cost timer circuits, logic circuits, speed-control circuits, phase-control circuits, etc. Originally, thyristors relied only on current reversal to turn them off, making them difficult to apply for direct current; newer device types can be turned on and off through the control gate signal. The latter is known as a gate turn-off thyristor, or GTO thyristor.

Unlike transistors, thyristors have a two-valued switching characteristic, meaning that a thyristor can only be fully on or off, while a transistor can lie in between on and off states. This makes a thyristor unsuitable as an analog amplifier, but useful as a switch.

The silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) or thyristor proposed by William Shockley in 1950 and championed by Moll and others at Bell Labs was developed in 1956 by power engineers at General Electric (GE), led by Gordon Hall and commercialized by GE's Frank W. "Bill" Gutzwiller. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers recognized the invention by placing a plaque at the invention site in Clyde, New York, and declaring it an IEEE Historic Milestone.

In 1960, Transitron Electronic Corporation marketed an PNPN tetrode with a high current gain at the time referred to as Binistor. Device was predicted to be applied both in switching and data storage circuits. One research paper using Transitron's tetrode demonstrated an "unusual" (at the time) switched-mode power supply circuit.

An earlier gas-filled tube device called a thyratron provided a similar electronic switching capability, where a small control voltage could switch a large current. It is from a combination of "thyratron" and "transistor" that the term "thyristor" is derived.

In recent years, some manufacturers have developed thyristors using silicon carbide (SiC) as the semiconductor material. These have applications in high temperature environments, being capable of operating at temperatures up to 350°C.