Lecture-10

02-06-2021
Advance Power Electronics
Thyristors

DR. TAHIR IZHAR

Thyristor 3

 The name Thyristor is a generic term for

bipolar device consisting of four layers and
operate as a switch.

 Numerous members of thyristor family exists

i.e. SCR, GTO, TRIAC etc.

 As far as structure is concerned the simplest is

the SCR and most complicated is TRIAC.
Silicon Control Rectifier
SCR
SCR 5

Circuit Symbol The Basic Structure

SCR 6

Some typical packages of an SCR

SCR Two Transistor Model 7
SCR Characteristic 8

Curves
SCR Characteristic 9

Curves
Turning the SCR On 10
Turning the SCR Off 11
Lecture-10
09-06-2021
 SCR Ratings 13

 Gate trigger current, IGT :

 Gate current necessary to switch
the SCR from the forward-
blocking region to the forward-
conduction region
 SCR Ratings 14

 Average forward current, IF(avg) :

 Maximum continuous anode
current (dc) that the device can
withstand in the conduction state.
 SCR Ratings 15

 Reverse-breakdown voltage, VBR(R) :

 Reverse voltage from cathode to
anode at which the device breaks
into the avalanche region and begins
to conduct.
 SCR Ratings 16

 Forward-breakover voltage, VBR(F) :

 This is the voltage at which the SCR

enters the forward-conduction.

 Holding current, IH :
 Anode current below which the SCR
switches off
 SCR Ratings 17

 Holding current, IH :
 Anode current below which the
SCR switches off
 Typical Applications 18

 Controlled Rectification
 Variable DC Power Supplies
 AC to DC controlled conversion
 Two quadrant and four quadrant converters
 DC to AC converters (Inverters)
 Variable frequency, Cyclo converters
 Soft starters for Induction Motors
 High Frequency Inverters for Induction Heating.
The Diac 19

 It is a two-terminal four-layer
semiconductor device.

 It can conduct current in either

direction when activated.

 The basic construction and

schematic symbol are shown
below.
Symbol and Characteristics 20
The Triac 21

 Can be thought of as two SCRs

connected in parallel and in
opposite directions with a common
gate terminal.

 Contains the most complex

semiconductor structure.

 Current can flow in both directions

TRIAC Structure 22
Applications 23

 The triacs can be used to control

average power to a load through phase
control.

 The triac can be triggered such that the

ac power is supplied to the load for a
controlled portion of each half-cycle.
Applications 24
SCR 25
Basic Structure
The basic structure of an SCR with doping profile is given
below
SCR 26

Basic Structure
 The SCR is a four layer (p+ n- p n+) device.

 Low rating (10-100A), device is built on a

small die of silicon wafer.

 High rating (100-4000A), the SCR is built on

an entire wafer.
SCR 27

Basic Structure
 The Cathode is the heavily doped n-
region on the top of the device.

 The anode is heavily doped p-region on

the bottom of the device.
 SCR Physical Structure 28

 The P-region (p2) under the cathode is the

gate.
 The gate of the device is connected to the
metal contact on the top of the die.
Top View of the Structure 29

 The center-gate geometry is used extensively for low

frequency SCRs.

 The involute-gate geometry is used for high

frequency SCRs.
SCR Operation 30
 The SCR junctions are labeled as J1, J2, J3, and each of the
four layers as p1, n1, p2, n2.

The Off State

 When the SCR is off, it can block a reverse voltage or a
forward voltage.
 Following diagram shows SCLs when SCR is blocking Reverse
voltage. VAK is negative, J1& J3 are reverse biased.
SCR Operation 31

The Off State

 The doping on each side of J3 is very heavy, so breakdown
voltage is relatively low
 N1 region is long and lightly doped, therefore, J1 can block
large reverse voltage.
 The SCL at J1 grows mostly into n1 region.
SCR Operation 32

The Off State

 When VAK is positive, J1& J3 are forward biased and J2 is reverse
biased.
 J2 withstands all the applied voltage.
 As the n1 region is more lightly doped than p2 region, the SCL
again grows into the n1 region.
SCR Operation 33

The Off State

 The n1 region is used to block both

polarities of voltage when SCR is off.

 The doping level & length of n1 region must

be chosen to give the desired breakdown
voltage.
SCR Operation 34

The Off State

 The breakdown of n1 can be either due to

punch through or due to avalanche.

 Most SCRs are designed with n1 long

enough to cause the avalanche to be the
breakdown mechanism.
Turn ‘on’ Process 35

 If VAK is positive, the SCR will block the

voltage when the gate is open.

 A momentary gate current can turn ‘on’

the SCR and it will remain ‘on’ even if the
gate current is made zero.

 This latching of the SCR can be

understood from the two transistor model.
Two Transistor Model 36

Cross-section of the SCR showing its two transistor model derivation.

Lecture-10
16-06-2021
Regenerative Process 38

 The application of a positive voltage at

Anode can not turn on the SCR, because
the junction J2 is reverse biased and
blocking.

 Base-Collector junctions of both the

transistors are reverse biased and both
transistors are off.
Regenerative Process 39

 The collector current of T2 provides the

base current for T1.

 The collector current of T1 along with

gate current supplies the base drive for
T2.
Regenerative Process 40

 Base current of each transistor is β times its

collector current.

 The regenerative turn on process can be

initiated, if a short pulse of current is
applied at the gate terminal

 As long as the product β1 β2 >1, the two

transistors will drive each other harder and
harder until they saturate.
The On State 41

 As the two transistor drive each other into

saturation, the excess carrier concentrations in
their bas regions reach high level injection.

 At this point doping concentrations in the base

regions are no longer relevant, and the SCR
behaves as a three layer PIN diode, the to two
middle layers corresponds to the i-region.

 The forward across the i-region is inversely

proportional to the recombination rate.
Break Over Voltage 42
 The SCR does not breakdown in the forward
direction, instead it turns on.

 This process is known as Breaking over and the

voltage at which it occurs is called the break over
voltage VBO.

 The breaking over process starts due to forward

leakage current, IA of the SCR which must be kept
small to save it from Beak over.
Break Over Voltage 43

 It can be shown that the SCR leakage current is

I CO1  I CO 2 (1)
IA 
1  (1   2 )

 To keep the IA small, the loop gain, (α1+α2)<<1

 If (α1+α2) = 1, the equation (1) shows that SCR

will enter into sustained breakdown.
Break Over Voltage 44

 The leakage current of the SCR increases with

temperature, therefore at elevated
temperature, the thermally generated
leakage current can be sufficient to increase
the SCR loop gain such that turn on occur.

 If α2 is made smaller than α1, the reverse and

forward breakdown voltages are nearly
same.
SCR dv/dt Rating 45

 The SCR can also turn on by means of high

dv/dt across anode and cathode.

 The increasing voltage is supported by J2.

 The associated SCR width increases and a

charging current flows across the anode
and cathode junctions, causing hole and
electron injection, respectively.
SCR dv/dt Rating 46

 The same mechanism occurs at the

cathode when gate current is applied;
hence if the terminal dv/dt is large
enough, SCR turns on.
Gate Cathode Short 47

 A structural modification is used to reduce

temperature sensitivity of the device and to
increase the rating by introducing gate cathode
shorts.

 The effect of this short is like placing a resistor

across the base-emitter junction of T2.

 The cathode electron injection efficiency is

effectively reduced thereby decreasing α2 which
results in VBO and dv/dt rating.
Gate Cathode Short 48
Function of Cathode Short 49

 In the forward blocking state, J2 leakage current

will forward bias base-emitter of T2, as this
junction voltage rises, the cathode short diverts
some of the leakage current of p2 base reducing
the current that is multiplied by the transistor
action, in effect the gain of T2 is reduced.

 The designer will make 0.7/Rgk larger than the

maximum leakage current expected when SCR is
in forward blocking state.
Function of Cathode Short 50
Latching Current 51

 To turn on the SCR, we need T2 to

contribute to the regenerative process.

 This contribution will not occur until the

current flowing through the SCR is 0.7/Rgk.

 Because this value of Current is usually

exceeded by Ig, the SCR will turn on by
the gate drive.
Latching Current 52

 But if the gate drive is removed, the

regenerative process stops and the SCR
returns to its off state.

 The Anode current level required for the SCR

to remain on when the gate drive is
removed is called the latching current IL.
Holding Current 53

 Similarly, if the SCR is on and the gate drive has

been removed, the anode current must fall
below than a critical level to turn off the SCR
because of the failure of the regenerative
process.
 The anode current at which this occurs is called
the holding current, IH.
 Our simple description here suggests that
IL = IH = 0.7/Rgk.
Holding Current 54

 However, Rgk is slightly different for the

turn-on and turn-off processes owing to
the differences in excess charge
concentrations in the p2 region.

 For a 100A device, IL and IH are typically

in the range of 100 to 300mA , with IH < IL.
Latched SCR 55

 An important property of the SCR is that

once latched on, the gate control is lost.

 The SCR can not turned off through gate.

 SCR turn off can only be achieved by

reducing the anode current externally to
a level below which the loop gain is
significantly less than unity.
The Gate Turn Off Thyristor
GTO 57

 GTO, is one of the new power semiconductor

device.

 Introduced in the 1970’s but was not established

until the 1980’s.

 Research and development has led to the present

day range of devices, with peak turn-off current in
the range of 300A to 4000A and rated forward
blocking voltages of between 1300V and 6000V.
GTO 58
Same Two Transistor Model 59
GTO-Structure 60
GTO 61

 The gate terminal has two arrowheads, on the

circuit symbol of GTO indicating current flow in
both directions, since the GTO can also be
turned off with an appropriate gate signal.

 The difference in the structure of GTO from the

SCR is the Anode short which helps to stop the
regeneration process with negative gate pulse.

 However, Anode short gives rise to an

asymmetrical voltage blocking characteristics.
Aluminum Electrolytic
Capacitors
Electrolytic Capacitors 63

The advantages

 High volumetric efficiency.

 High ripple current capability.

 High reliability.

 Excellent price/performance ratio.

Electrolytic Capacitors 64

Basic construction
 Comprises of two electrically conductive
material layers that are separated by a
dielectric layer.

 One electrode (the anode) is formed by an

aluminum foil with an enlarged surface area.

 The oxide layer (Al2O3) that is built up on this is

used as the dielectric.
Electrolytic Capacitors 65

Basic Construction
 Second electrode is a conductive liquid,
the operating electrolyte.

 A second aluminum foil, the so-called

cathode foil, serves as a large-surfaced
contact area for passing current to the
operating electrolyte.
Electrolytic Capacitors 66

Basic Construction
Electrolytic Capacitors 67
Electrolytic Capacitors 68

Basic Construction

 The anode of an aluminum electrolytic capacitor

is an aluminum foil of extreme purity.

 The effective surface area of this foil is greatly

enlarged (by a factor of up to 200) by
electrochemical etching in order to achieve the
maximum possible capacitance values.
Electrolytic Capacitors 69

Basic Construction
 The type of etch pattern and the degree of
etching is matched to the respective
requirements by applying specific etching
processes.
 Etched foils enable very compact aluminum
electrolytic capacitor dimensions to be achieved
and are used almost exclusively nowadays.
Electrolytic Capacitors 70

Basic Construction

 The dielectric layer of an aluminum electrolytic

capacitor is created by anodic oxidation (forming) to
build up an aluminum oxide layer on the foil.

 The layer thickness increases in proportion to the

forming voltage at a rate of approximately 1.2 nm/V.
Electrolytic Capacitors 71

Basic Construction
 Even for capacitors for very high voltages, layer
thicknesses of less than 1 m are attained, thus
enabling very small electrode spacings.
 This is another reason for the high volumetric
efficiency achieved (e.g. in comparison to the
minimum thickness of a paper dielectric, 6 to 8 m).
Electrolytic Capacitors 72

Basic Construction

 During the forming process the very fine pits

of the etched foils will encrust partially in
proportion to the forming voltage.

 Due to this effect, the final operating voltage

range must already be considered when the
foils are etched.
Electrolytic Capacitors 73

Basic Construction
 Since the electrolytic capacitors have a liquid as
a cathode, they are also designated as "wet" or
"non-solid" capacitors.
 The two aluminum foils are separated by paper
spacers.
 The liquid has the advantage that it fills the fine
etching pits, therefore optimally fitting into the
anode structure.
Electrolytic Capacitors 74

Basic Construction
 The paper serves various purposes, it serves as
a container for the electrolyte – the electrolyte is
stored in the pores of the absorbent paper – and
also as a spacer to prevent electric short-circuits,
as well as ensuring the required dielectric
strength between the anode and cathode foils.
Structure of Anode Foil 75
Electrolytic Capacitors 76
Winding construction of an aluminum electrolytic capacitor
Electrolytic Capacitors 77

Operation
 An aluminum electrolytic capacitor will only
operate correctly if the positive potential is
connected to the formed Al foil (anode), and the
negative potential to the cathode foil. If the
opposite polarity were to be applied, this would
cause an electrolytic process resulting in the
formation of a dielectric layer on the cathode foil.
Electrolytic Capacitors 78

Operation
 In this case strong internal heat generation and gas
emission may occur and destroy the capacitor.

 Secondly, the cathode capacitance, which will

progressively decrease as the oxide layer thickness
increases, and which is connected in series with the
anode capacitance, would reduce the overall
capacitance considerably.
Electrolytic Capacitors 79

Operation
 In most applications, aluminum electrolytic
capacitors – as poled devices – are used with
a DC voltage bias of proper polarity with
some superimposed AC voltage.
Electrolytic Capacitors 80

Operation
 Reverse polarities of up to 1.5 V are
permissible for short periods of time as the
formation of a damaging oxide layer on the
cathode only starts at voltages of this
magnitude.
Electrolytic Capacitors 81

Operation
 This is because the cathode foil is covered by
an air-oxide layer that corresponds to an
anodized dielectric layer with a breakdown
voltage of approximately1.5 V.
 82

For your attention