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Claim 1

IN CIRCUIT, A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE COMPRISING A BODY OF SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL HAVING A PAIR OF MAJOR FACES ON OPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF AND INCLUDING FOUR LAYERS OF ONE AND THE OPPOSITE CONDUCTIVITY TYPE BETWEEN SAID MAJOR FACES, LAYERS OF ONE CONDUCTIVITY TYPE BEING INTERLEAVED WITH LAYERS OF THE OPPOSITE CONDUCTIVITY TYPE FORMING A PLURALITY OF P-N JUNCTIONS THEREIN, A FIRST ELECTRODE ON ONE OF SAID PAIR OF MAJOR FACES IN LOW RESISTANCE OHMIC CONTACT WITH A SURFACE OF AN EXTERNAL LAYER OF SAID BODY AND AN ADJACENT EXPOSED SURFACE OF AN ADJACENT INTERMEDIATE LAYER, A SECOND ELECTRODE ON THE OPPOSITE ONE OF SAID PAIR OF MAJOR FACES IN LOW RESISTANCE OHMIC CONTACT WITH A SURFACE OF THE OTHER EXTERNAL LAYER OF SAID BODY, A ZONE OF SAID ONE CONDUCTIVITY TYPE IN SAID ADJACENT INTERMEDIATE LAYER, A THIRD ELECTRODE CONNECTED TO SAID ZONE, A FOURTH ELECTRODE CONNECTED IN LOW RESISTANCE OHMIC CONTACT TO SAID ADJACENT INTERMEDIATE LAYER, CIRCUIT MEANS FOR APPLYING A SIGNAL OF ONE POLARITY BETWEEN SAID THIRD ELECTRODE AND SAID FIRST ELECTRODE TO RENDER CONDUCTIVE THE P-N JUNCTION FORMED THEREBETWEEN THEREBY RENDERING SAID BODY BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SAID SECOND ELECTRODE CONDUCTIVE, AND CIRCUIT MEANS FOR APPLYING A SIGNAL OF THE SAME POLARITY BETWEEN SAID FOURTH ELECTRODE AND SAID FIRST ELECTRODE TO RENDER SAID BODY NON-CONDUCTIVE BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND ELECTRODE.