Determination of the Unstable States of the Solid State Plasma in Semiconductor Devices
Abstract
When a semiconductor device fails, a complicated set of actions takes place to move the device from a high voltage, low current state to a low voltage, high current state. Accompanying these changes are the collapse of isotropic current flow to a small column or filament of current which rapidly grows and heats the device to the melting point. These actions are collectively called second breakdown. This work reviews past results to show that second breakdown is the formation of a current controlled negative resistance (CCNR) regime which necessarily forces current flow to form a current filament. The current filament is modeled as a solid state plasma column undergoing a self- induced magnetic pinch as a result of the CNNR. The dispersion relation is derived to first order to show that the pinching leads to an unstable equilibrium that could lead to material failure. The minimum set of parameters necessary to the formation of second breakdown are determined to be satisfied by the Bennett pinch criterion. Further application is then made to a bipolar power transistor that has been driven into second breakdown to see how the derived criteria applies to a semiconductor device. T
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA196403
Entities
People
- Mark E. Snyder
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology