Publications

A new time-dependent analytic model for radiation-induced photocurrent in finite 1D epitaxial diodes

Verley, Jason V.; Hembree, Charles E.; Keiter, Eric R.

Photocurrent generated by ionizing radiation represents a threat to microelectronics in radiation environments. Circuit simulation tools such as SPICE [1] can be used to analyze these threats, and typically rely on compact models for individual electrical components such as transistors and diodes. Compact models consist of a handful of differential and/or algebraic equations, and are derived by making simplifying assumptions to any of the many semiconductor transport equations. Historically, many photocurrent compact models have suffered from accuracy issues due to the use of qualitative approximation, rather than mathematically correct solutions to the ambipolar diffusion equation. A practical consequence of this inaccuracy is that a given model calibration is trustworthy over only a narrow range of operating conditions. This report describes work to produce improved compact models for photocurrent. Specifically, an analytic model is developed for epitaxial diode structures that have a highly doped subcollector. The analytic model is compared with both numerical TCAD calculations, as well as the compact model described in reference [2]. The new analytic model compares well against TCAD over a wide range of operating conditions, and is shown to be superior to the compact model from reference [2].