Bulk breakdown of high field silicon-dielectric systems

Author

Gradinaru, G. ; Sudarshan, T.S.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., South Carolina Univ., Columbia, SC, USA

Volume

42

Issue

6

fYear

1995

fDate

6/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1156

Lastpage

1165

Abstract

Preliminary results on bulk breakdown in high field silicon-dielectric systems are reported. In most cases the total breakdown of the above systems takes place by surface flashover. Bulk breakdown in high field semiconductor-dielectric systems is supposed to be produced only when one or more large filaments are developed in the bulk of the material due to a particular defect configuration. The characteristics of the bulk breakdown of the system are totally different from surface flashover. These differences are explained by the different physical nature of the two kinds of the breakdown of the system, one located in the material bulk and other at the semiconductor-dielectric interface

Keywords

electric breakdown; elemental semiconductors; high field effects; semiconductor-insulator boundaries; silicon; Si; bulk breakdown; high field Si-dielectric systems; semiconductor-dielectric systems; surface flashover; Breakdown voltage; Delay; Dielectric breakdown; Electric breakdown; Electrodes; Flashover; Hafnium; Power semiconductor switches; Semiconductor device breakdown; Semiconductor materials;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.387251

Filename

387251