Title :
Cosmic ray-induced DC-stability failure in Si diodes
Author :
Hallén, Anders ; Bleichner, Henry ; Nordgren, Kenneth
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electron., KTH-Electrum, Kista, Sweden
Abstract :
A tandem accelerator has been used to simulate the effect of cosmic rays on the DC stability properties of a reverse biased pn diode. 30 MeV Carbon ions, with a maximum ionization of 130 eV/Å, were stopped in a reverse biased pn-junction. If the electric field is high enough, the large number of electron-hole pairs created by the ions results in the initiation of an avalanche. The current was limited to prevent a complete breakdown, and the diodes could be used repeatedly. The dependence of the field for the occurrence of the sudden avalanches was exponential, which has previously been reported for cosmic ray failures. Computer simulation showed that inductive or capacitive loads are necessary to initiate the avalanche
Keywords :
avalanche breakdown; cosmic ray interactions; energy loss of particles; ion beam effects; p-n junctions; power semiconductor diodes; semiconductor device reliability; 30 MeV; C ion stopping; DC stability properties; Si; Si diodes; avalanche initiation; capacitive loads; computer simulation; cosmic ray simulation; cosmic ray-induced DC-stability failure; electron-hole pairs; inductive loads; reverse biased pn diode; reverse biased pn-junction; tandem accelerator; Computer simulation; Cosmic rays; Electric breakdown; Ion accelerators; Ionization; Light emitting diodes; Manufacturing; Stability; Thyristors; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Power Semiconductor Devices and IC's, 1997. ISPSD '97., 1997 IEEE International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Weimar
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3993-2
DOI :
10.1109/ISPSD.1997.601450