SIMULATION OF FORWARD BIAS INJECTION IN PROTON-IRRADIATED SILICON PN-JUNCTIONS

A multilevel recombination model is implemented in the simulation prog ram MEDICI to simulate proton irradiated silicon. First the model is u sed to simulate charge carrier distributions in proton irradiated sili con p(+)n-diodes in order to evaluate deep level transient spectroscop y (DLTS) measurements of minority carrier capture. Knowledge of the am ount of injected carriers makes it possible to extract quantitative in formation from minority carrier temperature spectra, and minority carr ier capture coefficients can be determined. The model is then used to simulate current-voltage (IV) characteristics and the simulated IV-cha racteristics are found to be in good agreement with measured data over large ranges of currents (10 decades) and temperatures (150-420 K). T he agreement verifies that the minority carrier capture coefficients a re correct and makes it possible to calculate the charge carrier lifet ime profiles of proton irradiated silicon. This is of great importance for simulations of proton irradiated devices, such as thyristors and power diodes. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.