AC Thyristor

Two transistors arranged as a single thyristor (aka SCR - Silicone Controlled Rectifier). This is an alternative to the first circuit in this small series of basic thyristor demonstrations. The thyristor is really just a 4 layer (PNPN) semiconductor component. It's not a component made available by the developers of this simulator, so I've assembled two transistors (P[NP+NP]N) back to back, like so: P[NP]N. Just to be clear: Notice how the NP pins of the former (P[NP]) become common to the NP pins of the latter ([NP]N). A small, temporary current pulse to the gate will activates the thyristor. It latches (continues to conduct after the trigger current has gone). Please feel free to elaborate, or correct me in the comments.

published 8 years ago