The remote-base transistor biasing scheme of a thyristor for three-terminal measurement of base parameters

The performance of a PNPN thyristor is primarily decided by the two N-base parameters, namely minority carrier lifetime and basewidth to diffusion length ratio. This paper describes a simple three-terminal steady-state method for measuring these parameters in finished thyristors. In this method, the thyristor is biased in a new "remote-base PNP transistor" mode, which shows interesting characteristics giving a good deal of physical insight into the operation of the PNPN structure. © 1991.