Physical Limitations of Semiconductor Devices

ISBN-13: 9781441945051 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 330 str.

Vladislav A. Vashchenko; V. F. Sinkevitch

Opis

Since the beginning of semiconductor era in microelectronics the methodology of reliability assessment became a well established area. In most cases the reliability assessment involves statistical methods for safe operating area and long term re- ability parameters at the development of semiconductor processes, components and systems. At the same time in case of catastrophic failures at any development phase the major practical method is failure analysis (FA). However FA is mainly dealing with detection of consequences of some irreversible event that already happened. This book is focused on the most important and the less summarized reliability aspects. Among them: catastrophic failures, impact of local structural inhomo- neities, major principles of physical limitation of safe-operating area (SOA), physical mechanisms of the current instability, filamentation and conductivity modulation in particular device types and architectures. Specifically, the similar principles and regularities are discussed for elect- static discharge (ESD) protection devices, treating them as a particular case of pulsed power devices. Thus both the most intriguing applications and reliability problems in case of the discrete and the integrated components are covered in this book.

Spis treści

Failures of Semiconductor Device.- Theoretical Basis of Current Instability in Transistor Structures.- Thermal Instability Mechanism.- Isothermal Current Instability in Silicon BJT and MOSFETs.- Isothermal Instability in Compound Semiconductor Devices.- Degradation Instabilities.- Conductivity Modulation in ESD devices.- Physical Approach to Reliability.

Blurb

Physical Limitations of Semiconductor Devices provides an in depth understanding of the phenomena and regularities that play a critical role in the limitation of semiconductor device capabilities. It discusses how thermo-electrical breakdown, conductivity modulation, and electrical and spatial current instability phenomena affect the limitations of the devices. The authors give examples of the phenomena ranging from elementary semiconductor diode structures to discrete power and integrated components. They also show circuits both for silicon and compound semiconductor devices.

The material covers different levels of complexity including phenomenological, analytical, and numerical simulation. The material also explores the most complex phenomena of current filamentation and the impact of local structure defects, physical safe operating area limitations, and various scenarios of catastrophic failures in semiconductor devices. The emphasis of the book is on the physical approach to reliability assurance, safe operating area, and ESD problems.

Physical Limitations of Semiconductor Devices provides an important link between the theoretical aspects of the physics of semiconductor devices, non-linear physics, and the practical applications of microelectronics.