Skip turn-on of thyristors

A lateral current in an emitter layer of a thyristor (SCR) is shown to vary the lateral field in the base layers and also to change the distribution of the current density injected from the emitter to the base. A method of using lateral emitter layer currents in an SCR to increase the spreading velocity of the on-region and, at higher currents, to turn on quickly areas of the SCR remote from the gate contact is demonstrated experimentally.