Quenched-in centers in silicon p+n junctions

Yau, L.D.; Sah, C. T.

doi:10.1016/0038-1101(74)90067-7

Cited by 73 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…8,[17][18][19][20] The PI deep-level centers in Si are double-charged donors with ionization energies 0.28 eV ͑U level͒ and 0.54 eV ͑M level͒. 14,15 Originally thought of as recombination centers, 14 PI centers turned out to be deep electron traps. 15 As they do not influence the life-time of nonequilibrium carriers ͑the most carefully controlled parameter of the commercial material͒, their presence in high-purity Si is "hidden."…”

Section: ͒ the Applied Voltage Is Modeled Asmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High-voltage Si structures are known to possess process-induced ͑PI͒ deep-level centers. 14,15 Field-enhanced ionization of PI centers may serve as a triggering mechanism for superfast front propagation. 16 Our simulations reveal that this mechanism not only triggers the avalanche multiplication but also creates nonlocalized preionization of the initally depleted n base, thus providing conditions for the passage of the superfast pulled front predicted analytically in Ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Impact ionization fronts in semiconductors: Numerical evidence of superfast propagation due to nonlocalized preionization

Rodin

Minarsky

Grekhov

2010

Journal of Applied Physics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present numerical evidence of a novel propagation mode for superfast impact ionization fronts in high-voltage Si p + -n-n + structures. In nonlinear dynamics terms, this mode corresponds to a pulled front propagating into an unstable state in the regime of nonlocalized initial conditions. Before the front starts to travel, field-ehanced emission of electrons from deep-level impurities preionizes initially depleted n base creating spatially nonuniform free carriers profile. Impact ionization takes place in the whole high-field region. We find two ionizing fronts that propagate in opposite directions with velocities up to 10 times higher than the saturated drift velocity.

show abstract

Section: ͒ the Applied Voltage Is Modeled Asmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact ionization fronts in semiconductors: Numerical evidence of superfast propagation due to nonlocalized preionization

Rodin

Minarsky

Grekhov

2010

Journal of Applied Physics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[23][24][25] An alternative source of initial carriers that could switch the device in a deterministic manner can be due to the standard manufacturing technology for such structures. Meanwhile this technology has been shown to have a side effect: 51,52 it creates a specific type of process-induced deep level defects, coined as M-, U-and L-centers, [51][52][53][54] with ionization energies 0.54, 0.28, and 0.34 eV, respectively, and concentrations up to 10 14 cm Ϫ3 . An important feature of these centers is a strong asymmetry between electron and hole capture cross sections.…”

Section: A An Alternative Source Of Initial Carriersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Superfast fronts of impact ionization in initially unbiased layered semiconductor structures

Rodin

Ebert

Hundsdorfer

et al. 2002

Journal of Applied Physics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rodin, P.; Ebert, U.M.; Hundsdorfer, W.; Grekhov, I.V. Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication:• A submitted manuscript is the author's version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website.• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. A mode of impact ionization breakdown of a p -n junction is suggested: We demonstrate that when a sufficiently sharp voltage ramp is applied in reverse direction to an initially unbiased equilibrium p ϩ -n -n ϩ structure, after some delay the system will reach a high conductivity state via the propagation of a superfast impact ionization front. The front travels towards the anode with a velocity v f several times larger than the saturated drift velocity of electrons v s leaving a dense electron-hole plasma behind. The excitation of the superfast front corresponds to the transition from the common avalanche breakdown of a semiconductor structure to a collective mode of streamer-like breakdown. We propose that similar fronts can be excited not in layered structures but in plain bulk samples without p -n junctions. Our numerical simulations apply to a Si structure with typical thickness of Wϳ100 m switched in series with a load Rϳ100 ⍀, with a voltage ramp of AϾ10 12 V/s applied to the whole system. Our simulations show that first there is a delay of about 1 ns during which the voltage reaches a value of several kilovolts. Then, as the front is triggered, the voltage abruptly breaks down to several hundreds of volts within ϳ100 ps. This provides a voltage ramp of up to ϳ2ϫ10 13 V/s hence up to 10 times sharper than the externally applied ramp. We unravel the source of initial carriers which trigger the front, explain the orig...

show abstract

“…Defects include those induced by 1-MeV electron irradiation [49], 1.5-MeV electron irradiation [50], 1-MeV neutron irradiation [50], and high-temperature processing [50,51].…”

Section: Impurities Include Cobalt [41] Goldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semiconductor measurement technology

Bullis¹

1977

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Quenched-in centers in silicon p+n junctions

Cited by 73 publications

References 31 publications

Impact ionization fronts in semiconductors: Numerical evidence of superfast propagation due to nonlocalized preionization

Impact ionization fronts in semiconductors: Numerical evidence of superfast propagation due to nonlocalized preionization

Superfast fronts of impact ionization in initially unbiased layered semiconductor structures

Semiconductor measurement technology

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About