Fe. Peterkin et al., INHIBITION OF SURFACE-RELATED ELECTRICAL BREAKDOWN OF LONG P-I-N+ SILICON STRUCTURES(), Applied physics letters, 62(18), 1993, pp. 2236-2238
Semiconductors such as silicon and GaAs appear attractive for use in h
igh voltage devices because of their high bulk dielectric strength. Ty
pically, however, such devices fail at a voltage well below that expec
ted due to a poorly understood, surface-related breakdown process. In
this letter we present empirical results which show that such breakdow
n of long silicon p+-i-n+ devices can be inhibited by the application
of weak visible or near-infrared illumination. These results suggest a
technique for avoiding surface flashover in practical high voltage de
vices, and provide information about the physical mechanisms responsib
le for initiating flashover.