Robustness of Super Junction structures against cosmic ray induced breakdown

In this paper we present a new design approach which dramatically improves the robustness of power semiconductor device against cosmic rays induced breakdown. This failure mode occurs during continuous operation at a DC rail voltage, which in practice is well below the breakdown rating (typically half of the breakdown). This failure is more prominent for higher breakdown rated devices (above 2 kV) and represents one of the main causes of concern, especially if the power systems are operated at higher altitude. Using a mathematical model for the calculation of the cosmic ray breakdown failure rate proposed by Zeller [1], we show that by employing a SuperJunction structure in the drift region of a high voltage diode we can achieve a great improvement in the robustness of the device against cosmic ray radiation. Since the cosmic ray failure rate is strongly dependent on the electric field distribution, the two-dimensional nature of the SuperJunction electric field with lower peaks and more even distribution offers a huge advantage over the use of standard PiN devices. Finally, a physical two-dimensional electric field model for the SuperJunction structures is developed which is then imported into Zeller's model to compute the cosmic ray failure rate for different DC voltage rails. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.