Cosmic ray neutron-induced single-event burnout in power devices

Tomoyuki Shoji; Shuichi Nishida; Kimimori Hamada; Hiroshi Tadano

Cosmic ray neutron-induced single-event burnout in power devices

View Fulltext

Author(s): Tomoyuki Shoji ^{1, 2} ; Shuichi Nishida ³ ; Kimimori Hamada ³ ; Hiroshi Tadano ²
- Affiliations: 1: Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc., Nagakute, Aichi, Japan ;
  2: Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan ;
  3: Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota, Aichi, Japan
Source: Volume 8, Issue 12, December 2015, p. 2315 – 2321
DOI: 10.1049/iet-pel.2014.0977 , Print ISSN 1755-4535, Online ISSN 1755-4543

Received 26/02/2015, Accepted 26/10/2015, Revised 02/10/2015, Published 01/12/2015

The triggering mechanism for cosmic ray neutron-induced single-event burnout (SEB) in silicon insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and diodes was investigated by white neutron-irradiation experiments and transient device simulations. Electron-hole pairs are generated along the tracks of recoil ions produced by nuclear spallation reactions between incident neutrons and the constituent nuclei of the device. In the vicinity of the n⁻/n⁺ interface, the resulting dynamic current causes an increase in the electron density, and the space charge effect of the carriers leads to an increase in the peak electric field. In an IGBT, the onset of impact ionisation at this interface can cause a parasitic transistor to switch on. In the case of diodes, the electric field distribution leads to diode secondary breakdown. Therefore, impact ionisation at the n⁻/n⁺ interface is essential for triggering SEB. In this study, analytical equations are derived for the local rise in temperature during SEB. The local temperature rise is proportional to the energy, defined in terms of the product of the applied voltage and the total avalanche charge. The diameter of the damage region estimated using these equations is similar to the size of the observed annular voids.

References

1. 1)
  - 18. Allenspach, M., Dachs, C., Johnson, G.H., et al: ‘SEGR and SEB in n-channel power MOSFETs’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 1996, 43, pp. 2927–2931 (doi: 10.1109/23.556887).
2. 2)
  - 9. Shoji, T., Nishida, S., Ohnishi, T., et al: ‘Neutron induced single-event burnout of IGBT’. The 2010 Int. Power Electronics Conf. -ECCE ASIA-.
3. 3)
  - 16. Dachs, C., Roubaud, F., Palau, J.-M., et al: ‘Simulation aided hardening of N-channel power MOSFETs to prevent single event burnout’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 1995, 42, pp. 1935–1939 (doi: 10.1109/23.489237).
4. 4)
  - 3. Ziegler, J.F.: ‘Terrestrial cosmic ray intensities’, IBM J. Res. Dev., 1998, 42, pp. 117–139 (doi: 10.1147/rd.421.0117).
5. 5)
  - 17. Johnson, G.H., Palau, J.M., Dachs, C., et al: ‘A review of the techniques used for modeling single-event effects in power MOSFETs’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 1996, 43, pp. 546–560 (doi: 10.1109/23.490900).
6. 6)
  - 21. Liu, S., Boden, M., Girdhar, D.A., et al: ‘Single-event burnout and avalanche characteristics of power DMOSFETs’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 2006, 53, pp. 3379–3385 (doi: 10.1109/TNS.2006.884971).
7. 7)
  - 26. Domeij, M., Breitholtz, B., Lutz, J., et al: ‘Dynamic avalanche in Si power diodes and impact ionisation at the nn+ junction’, Solid-State Electron., 2000, 44, pp. 477–485 (doi: 10.1016/S0038-1101(99)00261-0).
8. 8)
  - 23. Shoji, T., Nishida, S., Hamada, K., et al: ‘Observation and analysis of neutron-induced single-event burnout in silicon power diode’, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 2015, 30, pp. 2474–2480 (doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2014.2361682).
9. 9)
  - 14. Johnson, G.H., Hohl, J.H., Schrimpf, R.D., et al: ‘Simulating single-event burnout of n-channel power MOSFET's’, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 1993, 40, pp. 1001–1008 (doi: 10.1109/16.210211).
10. 10)
  - 12. Shoji, T., Nishida, S., Hamada, K.: ‘Triggering mechanism for neutron induced single event burnout in power devices’, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 2013, 52, p. 04CP06[Errata; 52, 2013, 129201] (doi: 10.7567/JJAP.52.04CP06).
11. 11)
  - 30. Weiss, C., Aschauer, S., Wachutka, G., et al: ‘Numerical analysis of cosmic radiation-induced failures in power diodes’. Proc. of the European Solid-State Device Research Conf. (ESSDERC), 2011, pp. 355–358.
12. 12)
  - 2. Normand, E.: ‘Altitude and latitude variations in avionics SEU and atmospheric neutron flux’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 1993, 40, pp. 1484–1490 (doi: 10.1109/23.273514).
13. 13)
  - 28. Lutz, J., Domeij, M.: ‘Dynamic avalanche and reliability of high voltage diodes’, Microelectron. Reliab., 2003, 43, pp. 529–536 (doi: 10.1016/S0026-2714(03)00020-9).
14. 14)
  - 19. Dodd, E.: ‘Physics-based simulation of single-event effects’, IEEE Trans. Device Mater. Reliab., 2005, 5, pp. 344–357 (doi: 10.1109/TDMR.2005.855826).
15. 15)
  - 11. Shoji, T., Nishida, S., Hamada, K.: ‘Triggering mechanism for neutron induced single event burnout in power diode’. 2012 Int. Conf. Solid State Devices and Materials, 2012, p. 1235.
16. 16)
  - 7. Leray, J.L.: ‘Effects of atmospheric neutrons on devices, at sea level and in avionics embedded systems’, Microelectron. Reliab., 2007, 47, pp. 1827–1835 (doi: 10.1016/j.microrel.2007.07.101).
17. 17)
  - 29. Lutz, J., Baburske, R., Chen, M., et al: ‘The nn+- Junction as the key to improved ruggedness and soft recovery of power diodes’, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 2009, 56, pp. 2825–2832 (doi: 10.1109/TED.2009.2031019).
18. 18)
  - 22. Liu, S., Titus, J.L., Boden, M.: ‘Effect of buffer layer on single-event burnout of power DMOSFETs’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 2007, 54, pp. 2554–2560 (doi: 10.1109/TNS.2007.910869).
19. 19)
  - 27. Domeij, M., Lutz, J., Silber, D.: ‘On the destruction limit of Si power diodes during reverse recovery with dynamic avalanche’, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 2003, 50, pp. 486–493 (doi: 10.1109/TED.2002.808423).
20. 20)
  - 25. Domeij, M., Breitholtz, B., Östling, M., et al: ‘Stable dynamic avalanche in Si power diodes’, Appl. Phys. Lett., 1999, 74, pp. 3170–3172 (doi: 10.1063/1.124097).
21. 21)
  - 20. Busatto, G., Porzio, A., Velardi, F., et al: ‘Experimental and Numerical investigation about SEB/SEGR of Power MOSFET’, Microelectron. Reliab., 2005, 45, pp. 1711–1716 (doi: 10.1016/j.microrel.2005.07.089).
22. 22)
  - 8. Nishida, S., Shoji, T., Ohnishi, T., et al: ‘Cosmic ray ruggedness of IGBTs for hybrid vehicles’. Int. Symp. Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs, 2010, p. 129.
23. 23)
  - 4. Dirk, J.D., Nelson, M.E., Ziegler, J.F., et al: ‘Terrestrial thermal neutrons’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 2003, 50, pp. 2060–2064 (doi: 10.1109/TNS.2003.821587).
24. 24)
  - 13. Wrobel, T.F., Beutler, D.E.: ‘Solutions to heavy ion induced avalanche burnout in power devices’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 1992, 39, pp. 1636–1641 (doi: 10.1109/23.211346).
25. 25)
  - 6. Barth, J.L., Dyer, C.S., Stassinopoulos, E.G.: ‘Space, atmospheric, and terrestrial radiation environments’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 2003, 50, pp. 466–482 (doi: 10.1109/TNS.2003.813131).
26. 26)
  - 31. Weiss, C., Wachutka, G.: ‘A numerical ‘a-posteriori’ – method to calculate local self-heating in power devices after the impact of a cosmic particle’. Proc. of Int. Conf. on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices (SISPAD), 2012, pp. 35–38.
27. 27)
  - 10. Shoji, T., Nishida, S., Ohnishi, T., et al: ‘Reliability design for neutron induced single-event burnout of IGBT’, IEEJ Trans. Ind. Appl., 2011, 131, pp. 992–999 (doi: 10.1541/ieejias.131.992).
28. 28)
  - 24. Shoji, T., Nishida, S., Hamada, K., et al: ‘Experimental and simulation studies of neutron- induced single-event burnout in SiC power diodes’, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 2014, 53, p. 04EP03 (doi: 10.7567/JJAP.53.04EP03).
29. 29)
  - 15. Roubaud, F., Dachs, C., Palau, J.-M., et al: ‘Experimental and 2D simulation study of the single-event burnout in N-channel power MOSFETs’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 1993, 40, pp. 1952–1958 (doi: 10.1109/23.273458).
30. 30)
  - 1. Ziegler, J.F.: ‘Terrestrial cosmic ray’, IBM J. Res. Dev., 1996, 40, pp. 19–39 (doi: 10.1147/rd.401.0019).
31. 31)
  - 5. Normand, E.: ‘Single event upset at ground level’, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.,1996, 43, pp. 2742–2750 (doi: 10.1109/23.556861).

Login

Not registered yet?

Share

Tools

Login to add to favourites

Key

Cosmic ray neutron-induced single-event burnout in power devices

References

Related content