illustrated in Figure 1. Main Terminal 1 (MT1) and Main Terminal 2 (MT2) are also referred to as Anode 1 (A1) and Anode 2 (A2) respectively.

The relative sensitivity depends on the physical structure of a particular triac, but as a rule, quadrant I is the most sensitive (least gate current required), and quadrant 4 is the least sensitive (most gate current required).

In quadrants 1 and 2, MT2 is positive, and current flows from MT2 to MT1 through P, N, P and N layers. The N region attached to MT2 does not participate significantly.

1.Previous
3.Next