Thyristor with continuous recombination center shunt across planar emitter-base junction

A semiconductor thyristor comprising:

• (a) top and bottom surfaces;
• (b) a first planar layer of semiconductor material adjacent to said top surface, said first layer having a thickness of 20 .mu.m and having a first density of recombination sites;
• (c) a second planar layer of semiconductor material adjacent to said first layer and forming a first metallurgical p-n junction therewith, said second layer having a thickness of 30 .mu.m and having a second density of recombination sites, said first p-n junction spaced-apart from said top surface by only a layer of semiconductor material having a first conductivity;
• (d) a third planar layer of semiconductor material adjacent to said second layer of semiconductor material and forming a second metallurgical p-n junction therewith, said third layer of semiconductor material having a thickness of 150 .mu.m and having a third density of recombination sites;
• (e) a fourth planar layer of semiconductor material adjacent to said third layer of semiconductor material and adjacent to said bottom surface and forming a third metallurgical p-n junction with said third layer of semiconductor material, said fourth layer of semiconductor material having a thickness of 60 .mu.m and having a fourth density of recombination sites;
• and
• (f) a planar recombination region intersecting with and extending a distance of 10 .mu.m from said first metallurgical p-n junction toward said bottom surface, said recombination region having a fifth density of recombination sites therein.