Insulating properties of semi-insulating silicon under high field excitation

Experimental results and discussions are presented on the pulsed surface flashover characteristics of semi-insulating silicon in different ambient dielectric media including vacuum, air, N₂, and SF₆. The quality of the semiconductor (bulk, surface), contact technology, system configuration (device and contact geometries, electrode configuration), and the ambient medium surrounding the silicon specimen are all found to influence strongly the prebreakdown and the breakdown characteristics of the semiconductor-ambient dielectric system. Our results support the interface nature of the surface flashover, a process distinctly different from semiconductor breakdown