On the aging of avalanche light emission from silicon junctions

Author

de la Bardonnie, M. ; Jiang, Dong ; Kerns, Sherra E. ; Kerns, David V., Jr. ; Mialhe, Pierre ; Charles, Jean-Pierre ; Hoffman, Alain

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN, USA

Volume

46

Issue

6

fYear

1999

fDate

6/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1234

Lastpage

1239

Abstract

The evolution of photon emission from the emitter-base junctions of bipolar transistors during electrical aging is monitored for the first time. Both electrical and optical characteristics are analyzed. Local variations of light emission intensity are observed for junctions biased at avalanche breakdown. During aging, regions of emission coalesce into small, bright regions; the total emission for the entire junction remains stable and relatively high. Changes in transistor current gain and breakdown voltage correlate with changes in light emission, and are consistent with a hydrogen migration model

Keywords

ageing; avalanche breakdown; bipolar transistors; electroluminescence; elemental semiconductors; p-n junctions; semiconductor device breakdown; silicon; Si; Si junctions; avalanche breakdown biasing; avalanche light emission aging; bipolar transistors; breakdown voltage; electrical aging; electrical characteristics; emitter-base junctions; hydrogen migration model; light emission intensity variations; local variations; optical characteristics; photon emission; transistor current gain; Aging; Avalanche breakdown; Bipolar transistors; Hot carriers; Optical imaging; Optical interferometry; Sagnac interferometers; Silicon; Stimulated emission; Temperature measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.766891

Filename

766891