Thyristor with starting and generating cathode base contacts for use in rectifier circuits

A rectifier circuit comprising:

• plural output thyristors, each thyristor having at least four zones of alternating conductivity type, including a cathode zone, a cathode-base zone, an anode-base zone and an anode zone, each said thyristor further having at least two electrodes formed on the cathode base zone, including a starting gate used to control firing of said thyristor and a generator gate used to generate an output current upon firing of said thyristor;
• each of said plural thyristors connected in parallel with respective anodes and cathodes connected to each other, and with the generator gate of selected thyristors connected to the starting gate of other selected thyristors;
• wherein each thyristor further has a lateral resistance R.sub.GK ' between the generator gate and the cathode zone thereof formed such that while conducting an anode current smaller than a surge limit of said thyristor, sufficient current is removable from said generator gate such that said selected thyristor ignites the other selected thyristor connected in parallel therewith by application of the removable generator gate current to the starting gate of the other selected thyristor;
• and
• wherein each said output thyristor has a lateral resistance R.sub.GK between the starting gate and cathode zone sufficiently small with R.sub.GK <R.sub.GK ', so that a starting voltage applied to the starting gate thereof acts directly on the semiconductor junction between the cathode and the cathode base zones thereof.