Comparison between Calculated and Measured Forward and Reverse Current-Voltage Characteristics.

We report an investigation to better understand the physical processes involved in second breakdown in silicon diodes. Second breakdown is the precursor to burnout of electronic devices and vulnerability of Army electronics. Present methods predicting second breakdown have proven unsatisfactory. In this investigation, experimental measurement of the forward and reverse characteristics of silicon diodes are compared to computer simulations. The objective is to relate the failure threshold of the diode to its parameters and thus be able to design devices less susceptible to burnout. It is shown that the parameters needed to predict second breakdown can be obtained from the low power portions of the device characteristics. Thus low power measurements can be used to screen susceptible devices. Further work is being done to validate this proposed model. Keywords include Second breakdown, silicon diode, PIN junctions, failure threshold, computer simulations, screening, burnout and measurements.