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Subnanosecond avalanche switching in high-voltage silicon diodes with abrupt and graded p-n junctions

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Abstract

The phenomenon of delayed avalanche breakdown in high-voltage silicon diodes has been studied for the first time using an experimental setup with specially designed resistive coupler as a part of a high-quality matched measuring tract. Three types of diode structures with identical geometric parameters and close stationary breakdown voltages within 1.1–1.3 kV have been studied, including p +-n-n + structures with abrupt p-n junctions and two different p +-p-n-n + structures with graded p-n junctions. Upon switching of all structures, a voltage step with an amplitude above 1 kV and a rise time of ∼100 ps at a breakdown voltage of about 2 kV is formed in the load. However, switching to a state with low (∼150 V) residual voltage has been observed only in the structures with an abrupt p-n junction, while the voltage in structures with graded junctions only decreased to a level of ∼1 kV, which is close to the stationary breakdown voltage.

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Correspondence to P. B. Rodin.

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Original Russian Text © V.I. Brylevskii, I.A. Smirnova, P.B. Rodin, I.V. Grekhov, 2014, published in Pis’ma v Zhurnal Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, 2014, Vol. 40, No. 8, pp. 80–87.

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Brylevskii, V.I., Smirnova, I.A., Rodin, P.B. et al. Subnanosecond avalanche switching in high-voltage silicon diodes with abrupt and graded p-n junctions. Tech. Phys. Lett. 40, 357–360 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063785014040166

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063785014040166

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