They're known as "thyristors" and a variety of types, including Shockley Diodes, exist. Thyristors are chiefly used as switches to control power supplies -- often in electrical utility systems.

William Shockley was the visionary, a seer who predicted how important the transistor would be long before anyone else. All three were top-class scientists, and their unique skills brought ...

WEEK 3: Thyristor: basic characteristics, Shockley diode and three-terminal thyristor, related power thyristor, diac and triac, unijunction transistor and trigger thyristor, field-controlled thyristor ...