Electrical Engineering, Department of

 

Date of this Version

December 1995

Comments

Published in Appl. Phys. Lett. 67 (26), 25 December 1995. Copyright © 1995 American Institute of Physics. Used by permission.

Abstract

We present Schlieren images which show the existence and evolution of current filaments during the very early stages of surface-related breakdown inside 1 cm silicon p+-n--n+ structures. These images confirm our previous finding that breakdown occurs in the silicon rather than in the ambient, and suggest that a streamerlike mechanism may be responsible.