SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier)

Silicon Controlled Rectifiers known commonly as Thyristors

Is a three-junction PNPN semiconductor devices which can be regarded as two interconnected transistors that can be used in the switching of heavy electrical loads.
It is a multi-layer semiconductor device, hence the silicon part of its name. It requires a gate
signal to turn it ON, the controlled part of the name and once ON it behaves like a
rectifying diode, the rectifier part of the name.
They can be latched-ON by a single pulse of positive current applied to their Gate terminal
and will remain ON indefinitely until the Anode to Cathode current falls below their minimum
latching level.
A Thyristors Two Transistor Analogy

Thyristor Basics
In many ways the Silicon Controlled Rectifier, or the Thyristor as it is more commonly known, is similar
to the transistor. It is a multi-layer semiconductor device, hence the silicon part of its name. It
requires a gate signal to turn it ON, the controlled part of the name and once ON it behaves like a
rectifying diode, the rectifier part of the name. In fact the circuit symbol for the thyristor suggests
that this device acts like a controlled rectifying diode.

Thyristor Symbol

Typical Thyristor

However, unlike the diode which is a two layer ( P-N ) semiconductor device, or the transistor which is a three
layer ( P-N-P, or N-P-N ) device, theThyristor is a four layer ( P-N-P-N ) semiconductor device that contains
three PN junctions in series, and is represented by the symbol as shown.
Like the diode, the Thyristor is a unidirectional device, that is it will only conduct current in one direction only,
but unlike a diode, the thyristor can be made to operate as either an open-circuit switch or as a rectifying diode
depending upon how the thyristors gate is triggered. In other words, thyristors can operate only in the switching
mode and cannot be used for amplification.
The silicon controlled rectifier SCR, is one of several power semiconductor devices along with Triacs (Triode
ACs), Diacs (Diode ACs) and UJTs (Unijunction Transistor) that are all capable of acting like very fast solid
state AC switches for controlling large AC voltages and currents. So for the Electronics student this makes
these very handy solid state devices for controlling AC motors, lamps and for phase control.
The thyristor is a three-terminal device labelled: Anode, Cathode and Gate and consisting of three PN
junctions which can be switched ON and OFF at an extremely fast rate, or it can be switched ON for
variable lengths of time during half cycles to deliver a selected amount of power to a load. The operation of the
thyristor can be best explained by assuming it to be made up of two transistors connected back-to-back as a
pair of complementary regenerative switches as shown.

A Thyristors Two Transistor Analogy

The two transistor equivalent circuit shows that the collector current of the NPN transistor TR2feeds directly into
the base of the PNP transistor TR1, while the collector current of TR1 feeds into the base of TR2. These two
inter-connected transistors rely upon each other for conduction as each transistor gets its base-emitter current
from the others collector-emitter current. So until one of the transistors is given some base current nothing can
happen even if an Anode-to-Cathode voltage is present.
When the thyristors Anode terminal is negative with respect to the Cathode, the center N-P junction is forward
biased, but the two outer P-N junctions are reversed biased and it behaves very much like an ordinary diode.

Therefore a thyristor blocks the flow of reverse current until at some high voltage level the breakdown voltage
point of the two outer junctions is exceeded and the thyristor conducts without the application of a Gate signal.
This is an important negative characteristic of the thyristor, as Thyristors can be unintentionally triggered into
conduction by a reverse over-voltage as well as high temperature or a rapidly risingdv/dt voltage such as a
spike.
If the Anode terminal is made positive with respect to the Cathode, the two outer P-N junctions are now forward
biased but the centre N-P junction is reverse biased. Therefore forward current is also blocked. If a positive
current is injected into the base of the NPN transistor TR2, the resulting collector current flows in the base of
transistor TR1. This in turn causes a collector current to flow in the PNP transistor, TR1 which increases the
base current of TR2 and so on.

Very rapidly the two transistors force each other to conduct to saturation as they are connected in a
regenerative feedback loop that cannot stop. Once triggered into conduction, the current flowing through the
device between the Anode and the Cathode is limited only by the resistance of the external circuit as the
forward resistance of the device when conducting can be very low at less than 1 so the voltage drop across it
and power loss is also low.
Then we can see that a thyristor blocks current in both directions of an AC supply in its OFF state and can be
turned ON and made to act like a normal rectifying diode by the application of a positive current to the base of
transistor, TR2 which for a silicon controlled rectifier is called the Gate terminal.
The operating voltage-current I-V characteristics curves for the operation of a Silicon Controlled Rectifier are
given as:

Thyristor I-V Characteristics Curves

Once the thyristor has been turned ON and is conducting in the forward direction (anode positive), the gate
signal loses control due to the regenerative latching action of the two internal transistors. The application of
any gate signals or pulses after regeneration is initiated will have no effect at all because the thyristor is
already conducting and fully-ON.
Unlike the transistor, the SCR cannot be biased to stay within some active region along a load line between its
blocking and saturation states. The magnitude and duration of the gate turn-on pulse has little effect on the
operation of the device since conduction is controlled internally. Then applying a momentary gate pulse to the
device is enough to cause it to conduct and will remain permanently ON even if the gate signal is completely
removed.

Therefore the thyristor can also be thought of as a Bistable Latch having two stable states OFF or ON. This
is because with no gate signal applied, a silicon controlled rectifier blocks current in both directions of an AC
waveform, and once it is triggered into conduction, the regenerative latching action means that it cannot be
turned OFF again just by using its Gate.
So how do we turn OFF the thyristor?. Once the thyristor has self-latched into its ON state, it can only
be turned OFF again by either removing the supply voltage and therefore the Anode (IA) current completely, or
by reducing its Anode to Cathode current by some external means (the opening of a switch) to below a value
commonly called the minimum holding current, IH.
The Anode current must therefore be reduced below this minimum holding level long enough for the thyristors
internally latched PN-junctions to recover their blocking state before a forward voltage is again applied to the
device without it automatically self-conducting.
Since the thyristor has the ability to turn OFF whenever the Anode current is reduced below this minimum
holding value, it follows then that when used on a sinusoidal AC supply the SCR will automatically turn itself
OFF at some value near to the cross over point of each half cycle, and as we now know, will remain OFF
until the application of the next Gate trigger pulse.
Since an AC sinusoidal voltage continually reverses in polarity from positive to negative on every half-cycle,
this allows the thyristor to turn OFF at the 180 o zero point of the positive waveform. This effect is known as
natural commutation and is a very important characteristic of the silicon controlled rectifier.
Thyristors used in circuits fed from DC supplies, this natural commutation condition cannot occur as the DC
supply voltage is continuous so some other way to turn OFF the thyristor must be provided at the appropriate
time because once triggered it will remain conducting.
However in AC sinusoidal circuits natural commutation occurs every half cycle. Then during the positive half
cycle of an AC sinusoidal waveform, the thyristor is forward biased (anode positive) and a can be triggered
ON using a Gate signal or pulse. During the negative half cycle, the Anode becomes negative while the
Cathode is positive. The thyristor is reverse biased by this voltage and cannot conduct even if a Gate signal is
present.
So by applying a Gate signal at the appropriate time during the positive half of an AC waveform, the thyristor
can be triggered into conduction until the end of the positive half cycle. Thus phase control (as it is called) can
be used to trigger the thyristor at any point along the positive half of the AC waveform and one of the many
uses of a Silicon Controlled Rectifier is in the power control of AC systems as shown.

Thyristor Phase Control

At the start of each positive half-cycle the SCR is OFF. On the application of the gate pulse triggers the SCR
into conduction and remains fully latched ON for the duration of the positive cycle. If the thyristor is triggered

at the beginning of the half-cycle ( = 0o ), the load (a lamp) will be ON for the full positive cycle of the AC
waveform (half-wave rectified AC) at a high average voltage of 0.318 x Vp.
As the application of the gate trigger pulse increases along the half cycle ( = 0o to 90o ), the lamp is
illuminated for less time and the average voltage delivered to the lamp will also be proportionally less reducing
its brightness.
Then we can use a silicon controlled rectifier as an AC light dimmer as well as in a variety of other AC power
applications such as: AC motor-speed control, temperature control systems and power regulator circuits, etc.
Thus far we have seen that a thyristor is essentially a half-wave device that conducts in only the positive half of
the cycle when the Anode is positive and blocks current flow like a diode when the Anode is negative,
irrespective of the Gate signal.
But there are more semiconductor devices available which come under the banner of Thyristor that can
conduct in both directions, full-wave devices, or can be turned OFF by the Gate signal.
Such devices include Gate Turn-OFF Thyristors (GTO), Static Induction Thyristors (SITH), MOS Controlled
Thyristors (MCT), Silicon Controlled Switch (SCS), Triode Thyristors (TRIAC) and Light Activated
Thyristors (LASCR) to name a few, with all these devices available in a variety of voltage and current ratings
making them attractive for use in applications at very high power levels.

Thyristor Summary
Silicon Controlled Rectifiers known commonly as Thyristors are three-junction PNPN semiconductor
devices which can be regarded as two inter-connected transistors that can be used in the switching of heavy
electrical loads. They can be latched-ON by a single pulse of positive current applied to their Gate terminal
and will remain ON indefinitely until the Anode to Cathode current falls below their minimum latching level.

Static Characteristics of a Thyristor

Thyristors are semiconductor devices that can operate only in the switching mode.
Thyristor are current operated devices, a small Gate current controls a larger Anode current.
Conducts current only when forward biased and triggering current applied to the Gate.
The thyristor acts like a rectifying diode once it is triggered ON.
Blocks current flow when reverse biased, no matter if Gate current is applied.
Once triggered ON, will be latched ON conducting even when a gate current is no longer applied
providing Anode current is above latching current.
Thyristors

Are high speed switches that can be used to replace electromechanical relays in many circuits as they
have no moving parts, no contact arcing or suffer from corrosion or dirt. But in addition to simply
switching large currents ON and OFF, thyristors can be made to control the mean value of an AC
load current without dissipating large amounts of power. A good example of thyristor power control is in
the control of electric lighting, heaters and motor speed.

The Thyristor Switch

In the previous tutorial we looked at the basic construction and operation of the Silicon Controlled
Rectifier more commonly known as a Thyristor. This time we will look at how we can use the thyristor
switching circuits to control larger loads such as lamps, motors, or heaters etc.
We said previously that in order to get the Thyristor to turn-ON we need to inject a small trigger pulse of
current (not a continuous current) into the Gate, (G) terminal when the thyristor is in its forward direction, that is
the Anode, (A) is positive with respect to the Cathode, (K), for regenerative latching to occur.

Generally, this trigger pulse need only be of a few micro-seconds in duration but the longer the Gate pulse is
applied the faster the internal avalanche breakdown occurs and the faster the turn-ON time of the thyristor,
but the maximum Gate current must not be exceeded. Once triggered and fully conducting, the voltage drop
across the thyristor, Anode to Cathode, is reasonably constant at about 1.0V for all values of Anode current up
to its rated value.
But remember though that once a Thyristor starts to conduct it continues to conduct even with no Gate signal,
until the Anode current decreases below the devices holding current, (IH) and below this value it automatically
turns-OFF. Then unlike bipolar transistors and FETs, thyristors cannot be used for amplification.
Thyristors are semiconductor devices that are specifically designed for use in high-power switching
applications. Thyristors can operate only in the switching mode, where they act like either an open or closed
switch and once triggered it will remain conducting. Therefore in DC circuits and some highly inductive AC
circuits the current has to be artificially reduced by a separate switch or turn off circuit.

DC Thyristor Circuit
When connected to a direct current DC supply, the thyristor can be used as a DC switch to control larger DC
currents and loads. When using the Thyristor as a switch it behaves like an electronic latch because once
activated it remains in the ON state until manually reset. Consider the DC thyristor circuit below.

DC Thyristor Switching Circuit

This simple on-off thyristor firing circuit uses the thyristor as a switch to control a lamp, but it could also be
used as an on-off control circuit for a motor, heater or some other such DC load. The thyristor is forward biased
and is triggered into conduction by briefly closing the normally-open ON push button, S1 which connects the
Gate terminal to the DC supply via the Gate resistor, RG thus allowing current to flow into the Gate. If the value
of RG is set too high with respect to the supply voltage, the thyristor may not trigger.
Once the circuit has been turned-ON, it self-latches and stays ON even when the push button is released
providing the load current is more than the thyristors latching current. Additional operations of push
button, S1 will have no effect on the circuits state as once latched the Gate loses all control. The thyristor is
now turned fully ON (conducting) allowing full load circuit current to flow through the device in the forward
direction and back to the battery supply.
One of the main advantages of using a thyristor as a switch in a DC circuit is that it has a very high current
gain. The thyristor is a current operated device because a small Gate current can control a much larger Anode
current.
The Gate-cathode resistor RGK is generally included to reduce the Gates sensitivity and increase its dv/dt
capability thus preventing false triggering of the device.
As the thyristor has self-latched into the ON state, the circuit can only be reset by interrupting the power
supply and reducing the Anode current to below the thyristors minimum holding current (IH) value.
Opening the normally-closed OFF push button, S2 breaks the circuit, reducing the circuit current flowing
through the Thyristor to zero, thus forcing it to turn OFF until the application again of another Gate signal.
However, one of the disadvantages of this DC thyristor circuit design is that the mechanical normally-closed
OFF switch S2 needs to be big enough to handle the circuit power flowing through both the thyristor and the
lamp when the contacts are opened. If this is the case we could just replace the thyristor with a large

mechanical switch. One way to overcome this problem and reduce the need for a larger more robust OFF
switch is to connect the switch in parallel with the thyristor as shown.

Alternative DC Thyristor Circuit

Here the thyristor switch receives the required terminal voltage and Gate pulse signal as before but the larger
normally-closed switch of the previous circuit has be replaced by a smaller normally-open switch in parallel
with the thyristor. Activation of switch S2 momentarily applies a short circuit between the thyristors Anode and
Cathode stopping the device from conducting by reducing the holding current to below its minimum value.

AC Thyristor Circuit
When connected to an alternating current AC supply, the thyristor behaves differently from the previous DC
connected circuit. This is because AC power reverses polarity periodically and therefore any thyristor used in
an AC circuit will automatically be reverse-biased causing it to turn-OFF during one-half of each cycle.
Consider the AC thyristor circuit below.

AC Thyristor Circuit

The above thyristor firing circuit is similar in design to the DC SCR circuit except for the omission of an
additional OFF switch and the inclusion of diode D1 which prevents reverse bias being applied to the Gate.
During the positive half-cycle of the sinusoidal waveform, the device is forward biased but with switch S1 open,
zero gate current is applied to the thyristor and it remains OFF. On the negative half-cycle, the device is
reverse biased and will remain OFF regardless of the condition of switch S1.
If switch S1 is closed, at the beginning of each positive half-cycle the thyristor is fully OFF but shortly after
there will be sufficient positive trigger voltage and therefore current present at the Gate to turn the thyristor and
the lamp ON.
The thyristor is now latched-ON for the duration of the positive half-cycle and will automatically turn OFF
again when the positive half-cycle ends and the Anode current falls below the holding current value.
During the next negative half-cycle the device is fully OFF anyway until the following positive half-cycle when
the process repeats itself and the thyristor conducts again as long as the switch is closed.

Then in this condition the lamp will receive only half of the available power from the AC source as the thyristor
acts like a rectifying diode, and conducts current only during the positive half-cycles when it is forward biased.
The thyristor continues to supply half power to the lamp until the switch is opened.
If it were possible to rapidly turn switch S1 ON and OFF, so that the thyristor received its Gate signal at the
peak (90o) point of each positive half-cycle, the device would only conduct for one half of the positive halfcycle. In other words, conduction would only take place during one-half of one-half of a sine wave and this
condition would cause the lamp to receive one-fourth or a quarter of the total power available from the AC
source.
By accurately varying the timing relationship between the Gate pulse and the positive half-cycle,
theThyristor could be made to supply any percentage of power desired to the load, between 0% and 50%.
Obviously, using this circuit configuration it cannot supply more than 50% power to the lamp, because it cannot
conduct during the negative half-cycles when it is reverse biased. Consider the circuit below.

Half Wave Phase Control

Phase control is the most common form of thyristor AC power control and a basic AC phase-control circuit can
be constructed as shown above. Here the thyristors Gate voltage is derived from the RC charging circuit via
the trigger diode, D1.
During the positive half-cycle when the thyristor is forward biased, capacitor, C charges up via
resistor R1 following the AC supply voltage. The Gate is activated only when the voltage at point A has risen
enough to cause the trigger diode D1, to conduct and the capacitor discharges into the Gate of the thyristor
turning it ON. The time duration in the positive half of the cycle at which conduction starts is controlled by RC
time constant set by the variable resistor, R1.
Increasing the value of R1 has the effect of delaying the triggering voltage and current supplied to the thyristors
Gate which in turn causes a lag in the devices conduction time. As a result, the fraction of the half-cycle over
which the device conducts can be controlled between 0 and 180 o, which means that the average power
dissipated by the lamp can be adjusted. However, the thyristor is a unidirectional device so only a maximum of
50% power can be supplied during each positive half-cycle.
There are a variety of ways to achieve 100% full-wave AC control using thyristors. One way is to include a
single thyristor within a diode bridge rectifier circuit which converts AC to a unidirectional current through the
thyristor while the more common method is to use two thyristors connected in inverse parallel. A more practical
approach is to use a single Triac as this device can be triggered in both directions, therefore making them
suitable for AC switching applications.

Triac Tutorial and Basic Principles

In the previous tutorial we looked at the construction and operation of the Silicon Controlled
Rectifier more commonly known as a Thyristor, which can be used as a solid state switch to control
lamps, motors, or heaters etc. However, one of the problems of using a thyristor for controlling such
circuits is that like a diode, the thyristor is a unidirectional device, meaning that it passes current in
one direction only, from Anode to Cathode.
For DC switching circuits this one-way switching characteristic may be acceptable as once triggered all the
DC power is delivered straight to the load. But in Circuits this unidirectional switching may be a problem as it
only conducts during one half of the cycle (like a half-wave rectifier) when the Anode is positive irrespective of
whatever the Gate signal is doing. Then for AC operation only half the power is delivered to the load by a
thyristor.
In order to obtain full-wave power control we could connect a single thyristor inside a full-wave bridge rectifier
which triggers on each positive half-wave, or to connect two thyristors together in inverse parallel (back-toback) as shown below but this increases both the complexity and number of components used in the switching
circuit.

Thyristor Configurations

There is however, another type of semiconductor device called a Triode AC Switch or Triac for short which is
also a member of the thyristor family that be used as a solid state power switching device but more importantly
it is a bidirectional device. In other words, a Triac can be triggered into conduction by both positive and
negative voltages applied to its Anode and with both positive and negative trigger pulses applied to its Gate
terminal making it a two-quadrant switching Gate controlled device.
A Triac behaves just like two conventional thyristors connected together in inverse parallel (back-to-back) with
respect to each other and because of this arrangement the two thyristors share a common Gate terminal all
within a single three-terminal package.
Since a triac conducts in both directions of a sinusoidal waveform, the concept of an Anode terminal and a
Cathode terminal used to identify the main power terminals of a thyristor are replaced with identifications
of: MT1, for Main Terminal 1 and MT2 for Main Terminal 2 with the Gate terminal G referenced the same.
In most AC switching applications, the triac gate terminal is associated with the MT1 terminal, similar to the
gate-cathode relationship of the thyristor or the base-emitter relationship of the transistor. The construction, PN doping and schematic symbol used to represent a Triac is given below.

Triac Symbol and Construction

We now know that a triac is a 4-layer, PNPN in the positive direction and a NPNP in the negative direction,
three-terminal bidirectional device that blocks current in its OFF state acting like an open-circuit switch, but
unlike a conventional thyristor, the triac can conduct current in either direction when triggered by a single gate
pulse. Then a triac has four possible triggering modes of operation as follows.

+ Mode = MT2 current positive (+ve), Gate current positive (+ve)

Mode = MT2 current positive (+ve), Gate current negative (-ve)

+ Mode = MT2 current negative (-ve), Gate current positive (+ve)

Mode = MT2 current negative (-ve), Gate current negative (-ve)

And these four modes in which a triac can be operated are shown using the triacs I-V characteristics curves.

Triac I-V Characteristics Curves

In Quadrant , the triac is usually triggered into conduction by a positive gate current, labelled above as
mode +. But it can also be triggered by a negative gate current, mode . Similarly, in Quadrant , triggering
with a negative gate current, G is also common, mode along with mode +. Modes and + are,
however, less sensitive configurations requiring a greater gate current to cause triggering than the more
common triac triggering modes of + and .
Also, just like silicon controlled rectifiers (SCRs), triacs also require a minimum holding current IH to maintain
conduction at the waveforms cross over point. Then even though the two thyristors are combined into one
single triac device, they still exhibit individual electrical characteristics such as different breakdown voltages,
holding currents and trigger voltage levels exactly the same as we would expect from a single SCR device.

Triac Applications
The Triac is most commonly used semiconductor device for switching and power control of AC systems as the
triac can be switched ON by either a positive or negative Gate pulse, regardless of the polarity of the AC
supply at that time. This makes the triac ideal to control a lamp or AC motor load with a very basic triac
switching circuit given below.

Triac Switching Circuit

The circuit above shows a simple DC triggered triac power switching circuit. With switch SW1 open, no current
flows into the Gate of the triac and the lamp is therefore OFF. When SW1 is closed, Gate current is applied to
the triac from the battery supply VG via resistor R and the triac is driven into full conduction acting like a closed
switch and full power is drawn by the lamp from the sinusoidal supply.
As the battery supplies a positive Gate current to the triac whenever switch SW1 is closed, the triac is therefore
continually gated in modes + and + regardless of the polarity of terminal MT2.
Of course, the problem with this simple triac switching circuit is that we would require an additional positive or
negative Gate supply to trigger the triac into conduction. But we can also trigger the triac using the actual AC
supply voltage itself as the gate triggering voltage. Consider the circuit below.

Triac Switching Circuit

The circuit shows a triac used as a simple static AC power switch providing an ON-OFF function similar in
operation to the previous DC circuit. When switch SW1 is open, the triac acts as an open switch and the lamp
passes zero current. When SW1 is closed the triac is gated ON via current limiting resistor R and self-latches
shortly after the start of each half-cycle, thus switching full power to the lamp load.
As the supply is sinusoidal AC, the triac automatically unlatches at the end of each AC half-cycle as the
instantaneous supply voltage and thus the load current briefly falls to zero but re-latches again using the
opposite thyristor half on the next half cycle as long as the switch remains closed. This type of switching
control is generally called full-wave control due to the fact that both halves of the sine wave are being
controlled.
As the triac is effectively two back-to-back connected SCRs, we can take this triac switching circuit further by
modifying how the gate is triggered as shown below.

Modified Triac Switching Circuit

As above, if switch SW1 is open at position A, there is no gate current and the lamp is OFF. If the switch is
moved to position B gate current flows at every half cycle the same as before and full power is drawn by the
lamp as the triac operates in modes + and .
However this time when the switch is connected to position C, the diode will prevent the triggering of the gate
when MT2 is negative as the diode is reverse biased. Thus the triac only conducts on the positive half-cycles
operating in mode I+ only and the lamp will light at half power. Then depending upon the position of the switch
the load is Off, at Half Power or Fully ON.

Triac Phase Control

Another common type of triac switching circuit uses phase control to vary the amount of voltage, and therefore
power applied to a load, in this case a motor, for both the positive and negative halves of the input waveform.
This type of AC motor speed control gives a fully variable and linear control because the voltage can be
adjusted from zero to the full applied voltage as shown.

Triac Phase Control

This basic phase triggering circuit uses the triac in series with the motor across an AC sinusoidal supply. The
variable resistor, VR1 is used to control the amount of phase shift on the gate of the triac which in turn controls
the amount of voltage applied to the motor by turning it ON at different times during the AC cycle.

The triacs triggering voltage is derived from the VR1 C1combination via the Diac (The diac is a bidirectional
semiconductor device that helps provide a sharp trigger current pulse to fully turn-ON the triac).
At the start of each cycle, C1 charges up via the variable resistor, VR1. This continues until the voltage
across C1 is sufficient to trigger the diac into conduction which in turn allows capacitor, C1 to discharge into the
gate of the triac turning it ON.
Once the triac is triggered into conduction and saturates, it effectively shorts out the gate triggering phase
control circuit connected in parallel across it and the triac takes control for the remainder of the half-cycle.
As we have seen above, the triac turns-OFF automatically at the end of the half-cycle and the VR1
C1 triggering process starts again on the next half cycle.
However, because the triac requires differing amounts of gate current in each switching mode of operation, for
example + and , a triac is therefore asymmetrical meaning that it may not trigger at the exact same point
for each positive and negative half cycle.
This simple triac speed control circuit is suitable for not only AC motor speed control but for lamp dimmers and
electrical heater control and in fact is very similar to a triac light dimmer used in many homes. However, a
commercial triac dimmer should not be used as a motor speed controller as generally triac light dimmers are
intended to be used with resistive loads only such as incandescent lamps.
Then we can end this Triac Tutorial by summarizing its main points as follows:

A Triac is another 4-layer, 3-terminal thyristor device similar to the SCR.

The Triac can be triggered into conduction in either direction.

There are four possible triggering modes for a Triac, of which 2 are preferred.

Electrical AC power control using a Triac is extremely effective when used properly to control resistive type
loads such as incandescent lamps, heaters or small universal motors commonly found in portable power tools
and small appliances.
But please remember that these devices can be used and attached directly to the mains AC power source so
circuit testing should be done when the power control device is disconnected from the mains power supply.
Please remember safety first!.

The PN Unijunction Transistor

The Unijunction Transistor or UJT for short, is another solid state three terminal device that can be
used in gate pulse, timing circuits and trigger generator applications to switch and control either
thyristors or triacs for AC power control type applications. Like diodes, unijunction transistors are
constructed from separate P-type and N-type semiconductor materials forming a single (hence its
name Uni-Junction) PN-junction within the main conducting N-type channel of the device.

Although the Unijunction Transistor has the name of a transistor, its switching characteristics are very different
from those of a conventional bipolar or field effect transistor as it cannot be used to amplify a signal but instead
is used as a ON-OFF switching transistor. UJTs have unidirectional conductivity and negative impedance
characteristics acting more like a variable voltage divider during breakdown.
Like N-channel FETs, the UJT consists of a single solid piece of N-type semiconductor material forming the
main current carrying channel with its two outer connections marked as Base 2 ( B2 ) and Base 1 ( B1 ). The
third connection, confusingly marked as the Emitter (E) is located along the channel. The emitter terminal is
represented by an arrow pointing from the P-type emitter to the N-type base.
The Emitter rectifying p-n junction of the Unijunction Transistor is formed by fusing the P-type material into the
N-type silicon channel. However, P-channel UJTs with an N-type Emitter terminal are also available but these
are little used.
The Emitter junction is positioned along the channel so that it is closer to terminal B2 than B1. An arrow is used
in the UJT symbol which points towards the base indicating that the Emitter terminal is positive and the silicon
bar is negative material. Below shows the symbol, construction, and equivalent circuit of the UJT.

Unijunction Transistor Symbol and Construction

Notice that the symbol for the unijunction transistor looks very similar to that of the junction field effect
transistor or JFET, except that it has a bent arrow representing the Emitter (E) input. While similar in respect of
their ohmic channels, JFETs and UJTs operate very differently and should not be confused.
So how does it work? We can see from the equivalent circuit above that the N-type channel basically consists
of two resistors RB2 and RB1 in series with an equivalent (ideal) diode, D representing the p-n junction connected
to their center point. This Emitter p-n junction is fixed in position along the ohmic channel during manufacture
and can therefore not be changed.
Resistance RB1 is given between the Emitter, E and terminal B1, while resistance RB2 is given between the
Emitter, E and terminal B2.
As the physical position of the p-n junction is closer to terminal B2 than B1 the resistive value of RB2will be less
than RB1.
The total resistance of the silicon bar (its Ohmic resistance) will be dependent upon the semiconductors actual
doping level as well as the physical dimensions of the N-type silicon channel but can be represented by RBB. If
measured with an ohmmeter, this static resistance would typically measure somewhere between about 4k
and 10ks for most common UJTs such as the 2N1671, 2N2646 or the 2N2647.
These two series resistances produce a voltage divider network between the two base terminals of the
unijunction transistor and since this channel stretches from B2 to B1, when a voltage is applied across the
device, the potential at any point along the channel will be in proportion to its position between
terminals B2 and B1. The level of the voltage gradient therefore depends upon the amount of supply voltage.

When used in a circuit, terminal B1 is connected to ground and the Emitter serves as the input to the device.
Suppose a voltage VBB is applied across the UJT between B2 and B1 so that B2 is biased positive relative to B1.
With zero Emitter input applied, the voltage developed across RB1 (the lower resistance) of the resistive voltage
divider can be calculated as:

Unijunction Transistor RB1 Voltage

For a unijunction transistor, the resistive ratio of RB1 to RBB shown above is called the intrinsic stand-off
ratio and is given the Greek symbol: (eta). Typical standard values of range from 0.5 to 0.8 for most
common UJTs.
If a small positive input voltage which is less than the voltage developed across resistance, RB1(VBB) is now
applied to the Emitter input terminal, the diode p-n junction is reverse biased, thus offering a very high
impedance and the device does not conduct. The UJT is switched OFF and zero current flows.
However, when the Emitter input voltage is increased and becomes greater than VRB1 (or VBB + 0.7V, where
0.7V equals the p-n junction diode volt drop) the p-n junction becomes forward biased and the unijunction
transistor begins to conduct. The result is that Emitter current, IE now flows from the Emitter into the Base
region.
The effect of the additional Emitter current flowing into the Base reduces the resistive portion of the channel
between the Emitter junction and the B1 terminal. This reduction in the value of RB1resistance to a very low
value means that the Emitter junction becomes even more forward biased resulting in a larger current flow. The
effect of this results in a negative resistance at the Emitter terminal.

Likewise, if the input voltage applied between the Emitter and B1 terminal decreases to a value below
breakdown, the resistive value of RB1 increases to a high value. Then the Unijunction Transistor can be
thought of as a voltage breakdown device.
So we can see that the resistance presented by RB1 is variable and is dependent on the value of Emitter
current, IE. Then forward biasing the Emitter junction with respect to B1 causes more current to flow which
reduces the resistance between the Emitter, E and B1.
In other words, the flow of current into the UJTs Emitter causes the resistive value of RB1 to decrease and the
voltage drop across it, VRB1must also decrease, allowing more current to flow producing a negative resistance
condition.

Unijunction Transistor Applications

Now that we know how a unijunction transistor works, what can they be used for. The most common
application of a unijunction transistor is as a triggering device for SCRs and Triacs but other UJT applications
include sawtoothed generators, simple oscillators, phase control, and timing circuits. The simplest of all UJT
circuits is the Relaxation Oscillator producing non-sinusoidal waveforms.
In a basic and typical UJT relaxation oscillator circuit, the Emitter terminal of the unijunction transistor is
connected to the junction of a series connected resistor and capacitor, RC circuit as shown below.

Unijunction Transistor Relaxation Oscillator

When a voltage (Vs) is firstly applied, the unijunction transistor is OFF and the capacitor C1 is fully
discharged but begins to charge up exponentially through resistor R3. As the Emitter of the UJT is connected
to the capacitor, when the charging voltage Vc across the capacitor becomes greater than the diode volt drop
value, the p-n junction behaves as a normal diode and becomes forward biased triggering the UJT into
conduction. The unijunction transistor is ON. At this point the Emitter to B1 impedance collapses as the
Emitter goes into a low impedance saturated state with the flow of Emitter current through R1 taking place.
As the ohmic value of resistor R1 is very low, the capacitor discharges rapidly through the UJT and a fast rising
voltage pulse appears across R1. Also, because the capacitor discharges more quickly through the UJT than it
does charging up through resistor R3, the discharging time is a lot less than the charging time as the capacitor
discharges through the low resistance UJT.
When the voltage across the capacitor decreases below the holding point of the p-n junction ( VOFF ), the UJT
turns OFF and no current flows into the Emitter junction so once again the capacitor charges up through
resistor R3 and this charging and discharging process between VON and VOFF is constantly repeated while there
is a supply voltage, Vs applied.

UJT Oscillator Waveforms

Then we can see that the unijunction oscillator continually switches ON and OFF without any feedback. The
frequency of operation of the oscillator is directly affected by the value of the charging resistance R3, in series
with the capacitor C1 and the value of . The output pulse shape generated from the Base1 (B1) terminal is
that of a sawtooth waveform and to regulate the time period, you only have to change the ohmic value of
resistance, R3 since it sets the RC time constant for charging the capacitor.
The time period, T of the sawtoothed waveform will be given as the charging time plus the discharging time of
the capacitor. As the discharge time, 1 is generally very short in comparison to the larger RC charging
time, 2 the time period of oscillation is more or less equivalent to T 2. The frequency of oscillation is
therefore given by = 1/T.

UJT Oscillator Example No1

The data sheet for a 2N2646 Unijunction Transistor gives the intrinsic stand-off ratio as 0.65. If a 100nF
capacitor is used to generate the timing pulses, calculate the timing resistor required to produce an oscillation
frequency of 100Hz.
1. The timing period is given as:

2. The value of the timing resistor, R3 is calculated as:

Then the value of charging resistor required in this simple example is calculated as 95.3ks to the nearest
preferred value. However, there are certain conditions required for the UJT relaxation oscillator to operate
correctly as the resistive value of R3 can be too large or too small.
For example, if the value of R3 was too large, (Megohms) the capacitor may not charge up sufficiently to
trigger the Unijunctions Emitter into conduction but must also be large enough to ensure that the UJT switches
OFF once the capacitor has discharged to below the lower trigger voltage.
Likewise if the value of R3 was too small, (a few hundred Ohms) once triggered the current flowing into the
Emitter terminal may be sufficiently large to drive the device into its saturation region preventing it from turning
OFF completely. Either way the unijunction oscillator circuit would fail to oscillate.

UJT Speed Control Circuit

One typical application of the unijunction transistor circuit above is to generate a series of pulses to fire and
control a thyristor. By using the UJT as a phase control triggering circuit in conjunction with an SCR or Triac,
we can adjust the speed of a universal AC or DC motor as shown.

Unijunction Transistor Speed Control

Using the circuit above, we can control the speed of a universal series motor (or whichever type of load we
want, heaters, lamps, etc) by regulating the current flowing through the SCR. To control the motors speed,
simply change the frequency of the sawtooth pulse, which is achieved by varying the value of the
potentiometer.

Unijunction Transistor Summary

We have seen that a Unijunction Transistor or UJT for short, is an electronic semiconductor device that has
only one p-n junction within an N-type (or P-type) lightly doped ohmic channel. The UJT has three terminals
one labelled Emitter (E) and two Bases (B1 and B2).
Two ohmic contacts B1 and B2 are attached at each ends of the semiconductor channel with the resistance
between B1 and B2, when the emitter is open circuited being called the interbase resistance, RBB. If measured
with an ohmmeter, this static resistance would typically measure somewhere between about 4k and 10ks
for most common UJTs.
The ratio of RB1 to RBB is called the intrinsic stand-off ratio, and is given the Greek symbol: (eta). Typical
standard values of range from 0.5 to 0.8 for most common UJTs.

The unijunction transistor can be used in a variety of circuits and applications ranging from trigger devices for
thyristors and triacs to sawtooth generators for timing and phase control circuits.The negative resistance
characteristic of the UJT makes it very useful as an oscillator.
When connected as a relaxation oscillator, it can oscillate independently without a tank circuit or complicated
RC feedback network and is capable of generating a train of pulses of varying duration simply by varying the
values of a single capacitor, (C) or resistor, (R).
Commonly available unijunction transistors include the 2N1671, 2N2646, 2N2647, etc, with the 2N2646 being
the most popular UJT for use in pulse and sawtooth generators and time delay circuits. Other types of
unijunction transistor devices available are called Programmable UJTs, which can have their switching
parameters set by external resistors. The most common Programmable Unijunction Transistors are the
2N6027 and the 2N6028.