History

In september 1956, four engineers of Bell Telephone Laboratory,published a paper untitled PNPN trnsistor switches In 1957 ,Gordon Hall of General Electric Company,USA developed the three terminal PNPN silicon based semiconductor device called as silicon controlled rectifier(SCR).

INTRODUCTION

Thyristor is a general name given to family of power semiconductor switching devices. The SCR is the most widely used and important member of the thryistor family. The thyristor has four or more layers or three or more junctions. The SCR is the most widely used and important member of the thyristor family. This device has revolutionized the art of solid state power control. The SCR is almost universally referred to as the thyristor. The name thyristor is derived from a capital letters from thyratron and transistor . Thus a thyristor is a solid state device like a transistor and has characterstics similar to that of a thyratron tube.

STRUCTURE OF SCR

The structure and symbol of SCR are shown in fig. It is a four layered PNPN switching device having three junctions J1,J2,J3. It has three external teminals,namely,the anode,cathode and gate.

V-I CHARACTERSTICS OF SCR

The thyristor V-I characterstics is divided into three regions of operation-

Reverse blocking region

Forward blocking region

Forward conduction mode

Reverse blocking region:When the cathode is made positive with respect to anode ,the thyristor becomes reversed biased. In this region thyristor,the thyristor exhibits a blocking characteristic similar to that of a diode.In this reverse biased condition,the outer junction j1 and j3 are reversed biased and middle junction j2 are forward biased .therefore only a smaal leakage current flows .if the reverse voltage is increased, then at a critical breakdown level called reverse breakdown voltage Vbr,an avalanche will ocuur at junction J1 and J3 increasing the current sharply.

The inner two regions of the SCR are highly doped compared to the outer layer. Hence the thickness of J2 depletion layer during the forward biased conditions will be greater than the total thickness of the two depletion layers J1 and J3 when the device is reverse biased. Therefore ,the forward breakover voltage Vbo is generally higher than the reverse break over voltage Vbr.

Forward blocking region:In this region the anode is made positive with respect to the cathode and therefore junction J1 and J3 are forward biased while the junction J2 remains reverse biased . Hence the anode current is small forward leakage current.

Forward conduction mode:When the anode to cathode forward voltage is increased with the gate circuit kept open, avalanche breakdown occurs at the junction J2 ata critical forward breakover voltage (Vbo),and the SCr switches into a low impedance condition (high conduction mode) the device latches on to its ON state.

TURN ON METHODS OF A THYRISTOR

Forward voltage triggering:When anode to cathode forward voltage is increased with gate circuit open, the reversed biased junction J2 will have an avalanche breakdown at a voltage called forward breakover voltage Vbo. At this voltage , Off state to on state characterized by a low voltage across it with large forward current. The forward voltage drop across the SCR during the On state is of order of 1 to 1.5 v and increases slightly with load current.

Thermal triggering:Like any other semiconductor,the width of the depletion layer of a thyristor decreases with increase of a temperature. Thus in an thyristir when a voltage is applied between the anode and cathode is very near to its breakdown voltage,the device can be triggered by increasing its junction temperature. This method of triggering the device by heating is known as thermal triggering process.

Radiation triggering:Thyristor is bombarded by energy particles such as neutrons and photons . with the help of this external energy, electron hole pairs are generated in the device ,thus increasing the number of charge carriers.This leads to instantaneous flow of current within the device and triggering of the device.

dv/dt triggering:we know that forward voltage across the anoide and cathode of a device , the junctions J1 and J3 are forward biased whereas the junction J2 becomes the reverse biased. This reversed biased junction J2 has the characterstics of a capacitor due to charge existing across the junction. If a forward voltage is suddenly applied , a charging current will flow tending to turn the device ON.

Gate triggering:By applying a positive signal at the gate terminal of the device, it can be triggered much before the specified brakover voltage . the conduction period of the SCr can be controlled by varying the gate signal within the specified values values of the maximum and minimum gate currents.

TURN OFF METHODS

NATURAL COMMUTATION FORCED COMMUTATION

Natural commutation:-

The simplest and most widely used method of commutation makes use of the alternating ,reversing nature of a.c. voltages to effect the current transfer. In a.c. circuits,the current always passes through zero every half cycle. A reverse voltage will simultaneously appear across the device. This immediately turns off the device.

Forced commutation:In case of d.c. circuits for switching of the thyristors,the forward current should be forced to zero by means of some external circuits.the process is called forced commutation. Inductance and capacitance which constitute the commutation circuits are called as commutating components.

APPLICATIONS

SCRs are mainly used in devices where the control of high power, possibly coupled with high voltage, is demanded. Their operation makes them suitable for use in medium to high-voltage AC power control applications, such as lamp dimming, regulators and motor control. SCRs and similar devices are used for rectification of high power AC in high-voltage direct current power transmission. They are also used in the control of welding machines, mainly MTAW and GTAW processes.

Acknowledgement

I have taken a lot of efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many individuals. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.

I am highly indebted to our teacher Mrs.Lipika Dey mam, for their guidance and constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project & also for their support in completing the project.

I would like to express my gratitude towards my Family & lovely Friends for their kind co-operation and encouragement which help me in completion of this project.

I would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to industry persons for providing bunch of knowledges regarding this topic on websites, which helped me a lot in successful completion. Nishant Tripathi

CONTENTS
History Introduction Structure of SCR V-I characterstics of SCR 1. Reverse blocking region 2. Forward blocking region 3. Forward conduction region Turn on methos of SCR 1. Forward voltage triggering 2. Thermal triggering 3. Radiation triggering 4. dv/dt triggering 5. Gate triggering Turn of methods 1. Natural commutation 2. Forced commutation Applications

ABSTRACT

Turn-on efficiency is the main concern for silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) devices used as an on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit, especially in deep subquarter-micron CMOS processes with much thinner gate oxide. A novel double-triggered technique is proposed to speed up the turn-on speed of SCR devices for using in on-chip ESD protection circuit to effectively protect the much thinner gate oxide in sub-quarter-micron CMOS processes. From the experimental results, the switching voltage and turn-on time of such double-triggered SCR (DT-SCR) device has been confirmed to be significantly reduced by this double-triggered technique.