8/26/2015

AvalanchebreakdownWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Avalanchebreakdown
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Avalanchebreakdownisaphenomenonthatcanoccurinbothinsulatingandsemiconducting
materials.Itisaformofelectriccurrentmultiplicationthatcanallowverylargecurrentswithin
materialswhichareotherwisegoodinsulators.Itisatypeofelectronavalanche.Theavalancheprocess
occurswhenthecarriersinthetransitionregionareacceleratedbytheelectricfieldtoenergiessufficient
tofreeelectronholepairsviacollisionswithboundelectrons.

Explanation
Materialsconductelectricityiftheycontainmobilechargecarriers.Therearetwotypesofchargecarrier
inasemiconductor:freeelectronsandelectronholes.Afixedelectroninareversebiaseddiodemay
breakfreeduetoitsthermalenergy,creatinganelectronholepair.Ifthereisavoltagegradientinthe
semiconductor,theelectronwillmovetowardsthepositivevoltagewhiletheholewill"move"towards
thenegativevoltage.Mostofthetime,theelectronandholewilljustmovetooppositeendsofthe
crystalandstop.Undertherightcircumstances,however,(i.e.whenthevoltageishighenough)thefree
electronmaymovefastenoughtoknockotherelectronsfree,creatingmorefreeelectronholepairs(i.e.
morechargecarriers),increasingthecurrent.Fast"moving"holesmayalsoresultinmoreelectronhole
pairsbeingformed.Inafractionofananosecond,thewholecrystalbeginstoconduct.
Thelargevoltagedropandpossiblylargecurrentduringbreakdownnecessarilyleadstothegeneration
ofheat.Therefore,adiodeplacedintoareverseblockingpowerapplicationwillusuallybedestroyedby
breakdown,astheexternalcircuitwillbeabletosustainalargecurrentanddumpexcessiveamountsof
heat.Inprinciple,however,avalanchebreakdownonlyinvolvesthepassageofelectrons,and
intrinsicallyneednotcausedamagetothecrystal.Avalanchediodes(commonlyencounteredashigh
voltageZenerdiodes)areconstructedtohaveauniformjunctionthatbreaksdownatauniformvoltage,
toavoidcurrentcrowdingduringbreakdown.Thesediodescanindefinitelysustainamoderatelevelof
currentwhileontheedgeofbreakdown.
Thevoltageatwhichthebreakdownoccursiscalledthebreakdownvoltage.Thereisahysteresis
effectonceavalanchebreakdownhasoccurred,thematerialwillcontinuetoconductevenifthevoltage
acrossitdropsbelowthebreakdownvoltage.ThisisdifferentfromaZenerdiode,whichwillstop
conductingoncethereversevoltagedropsbelowthebreakdownvoltage.

Seealso
QBD(electronics)
Singlephotonavalanchediode
Sparkgap

References
MicroelectronicCircuitDesignRichardCJaegerISBN0071143866
TheArtofElectronicsHorowitz&HillISBN0521370957
UniversityofColoradoguidetoAdvanceMOSFETdesign(http://ece
www.colorado.edu/~bart/book/book/chapter7/ch7_7.htm)
McKay,K.(1954)."AvalancheBreakdowninSilicon".PhysicalReview94(4):877.
Bibcode:1954PhRv...94..877M(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1954PhRv...94..877M).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalanche_breakdown

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8/26/2015

AvalanchebreakdownWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

doi:10.1103/PhysRev.94.877(https://dx.doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.94.877).
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