Thyristor

A thyristor is a semiconductor component built from four or more semiconductor films of varying levels of doping. Thyristors are switchable components, meaning they are non-conductive in their initial state and can be switched on through a small gate current. After a thyristor has been switched on, it remains conductive even if there is no gate current. A thyristor can be switched off by falling below a minimum current, the so-called holding current.