Patent ID: 8536617

Claim:
A device comprising: a semiconductor body having a plurality of doped layers forming a plurality of dopant junctions, the semiconductor body including an optically triggered thyristor, a first amplifying thyristor, and a switching thyristor; and a conductive anode disposed on a first side of the semiconductor body, wherein the optically triggered thyristor is configured to receive incident radiation to generate a first electric current, and the first amplifying thyristor is configured to increase the first electric current from the optically triggered thyristor to at least a threshold current, and wherein the switching thyristor switches to the conducting state in order to conduct a second electric current from the anode and through the semiconductor body; and a conductive terminal coupled with the first amplifying thyristor and a conductive bridge that is conductively coupled with the anode and the conductive terminal, the conductive terminal configured to conduct at least some of the second electric current from the anode to the first amplifying thyristor to increase the first electric current up to at least the threshold current.