THYRISTOR WITH AMPLIFIED FIRING CURRENT

A thyristor structure includes an outer emitter layer of one conductivity type provided with a main electrode and an underlying base layer of opposite conductivity. The emitter layer is provided with a central opening through which small-area contact is made to the base layer to establish a firing current, and surrounding the small-area contact is an annular zone also located within the opening and which exhibits the same type of conductivity as the emitter layer. One or more additional openings are provided in the emitter layer laterally outward of the annular zone and through which small-area contact(s) serving to establish auxiliary firing current is(are) made to the base layer, and the annular zone and said additional small-area contact(s) are linked to each other by way of a conductor without an intermediate barrier layer.