Analytical Model for Single Event Burnout of Power MOSFETs

The processes causing single event burnout in power MOSFETs are modeled analytically, describing the evolution of the plasma-filament from an ion traversing the structure and the processes constituting the triggering mechanism of second breakdown. Analytically tractable models are achieved by employing simplifying approximations in common use in established semiconductor device theory, and by using initial conditions and parameters typical for simulations of single event upset phenomena. Comparative simplicity and tractability is favored over accuracy to gain lucid relationships between pertinent parameters, which can guide device design and optimization, aid the interpretation of results from simulation and experiment, and help in the development of simulation software.