Gokul Sai Katragadda

Sahithi Reddy Korolla

ECE 8610
Power Semiconductor Devices
Assignment-1
1)
There are two breakdown mechanisms in power semiconductors. They are
Avalanche Breakdown
Zener Breakdown
Avalanche Breakdown:
1. This breakdown is caused by impact ionization of electron-hole pairs.
2. In a reverse bias condition, there will be a very little current flow.
Electrons that enter the depletion region undergo a tremendous
acceleration due to high electric field or simply high voltages.
3. These accelerated carriers bombard with other atoms and knock the
electrons out creating additional electron hole pairs.
4. These generated carriers are swept into the depletion region and the
process continues.
Zener Breakdown:
1. This breakdown is most likely to occur in high doped devices.
2. This breakdown is caused by tunneling of the electrons from valence
band to the conduction band at the junction creating electron-hole
pairs.
I.

Regions where breakdown occur:

The breakdown is most likely to occur at metal-semiconductor contacts
or edges/curved surfaces where the electric filed lines are high.

II.

Breakdown comparision in Si and 6HSiC:

1. For a given doping concentration, breakdown voltage in Si is less
than that of 6HSiC.
2. For a given doping concentration, maximum depletion width of Si
is less than that of 6HSiC.

III.

Models in Power device Breakdown analysis:

Power Law

 Empirical Model
Power Law Model:
1. It is convenient to use a power law, referred to as
Fulops
approximation for the impact ionization coefficients even though they
actually increase exponentially with electric field.
F (Si) = 1.8 *

1035

E7

2. In the same way, we can also use Baligas power law approximation for
the impact ionization coefficients of 6HSiC.
B (4H-SiC) = 3.9 *

1042

E7

3. The power law approximations are valuable for obtaining analytical

solutions.
Empirical Model:
1. Empirical modelling is based on empirical observations. The avalanche
breakdown condition is defined by the impact ionization rate becoming
infinite.
2. The total number of electron hole pairs created in the depletion region
due to a single electron hole pair initially generated at a distance x is
given by

where W is the width of the depletion layer.

3.

This M(x) is called multiplication coefficient. The avalanche breakdown

occurs when total number of electron-hole pairs is equal to infinity. This
happens when denominator is zero.
IV.

Which Model to use:

Empirical modelling is more numerical based approach. Power
law approximations give some accurate results for breakdown voltages

and influence of various edge terminations on breakdown. So, its

better to use power law approach.