Spatial limitations to the application of the lucky-drift theory of impact ionization

Author

Plimmer, S.A. ; David, J.P.R. ; Dunn, G.M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Sheffield Univ., UK

Volume

44

Issue

4

fYear

1997

fDate

4/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

659

Lastpage

663

Abstract

Multiplication characteristics predicted by the lucky-drift (LD) theory of impact ionization are compared to experimental results on a range of thin GaAs PIN diodes with i-region thicknesses, w, from 1 μm down to 0.025 μm. Whereas lucky-drift and experimental results are in agreement for w⩾0.1 μm, significant differences are observed for thinner structures where nonlocal effects are important. Multiplication characteristics predicted by Monte-Carlo (MC) and lucky-drift simulations which use the same material parameters and produce the same bulk ionization rates are also compared and differences are again found in the multiplication characteristics of thinner structures. These differences are attributed to the lucky-drift description of carrier transport and establish a lower spatial limit to the application of this theory

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; impact ionisation; p-i-n diodes; semiconductor device models; 0.025 to 1 micron; GaAs; Monte-Carlo simulation; carrier transport; impact ionization; lucky-drift theory; multiplication characteristics; nonlocal effects; spatial limitations; thin GaAs PIN diodes; Charge carrier processes; Electric breakdown; Failure analysis; Gallium arsenide; Helium; Impact ionization; Phonons; Predictive models; Resumes; Scattering;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.563372

Filename

563372