This article is cited in 27 papers

Semiconductor physics

On the picosecond switching of a high-density current (60 kA/cm$^2$) via a Si closing switch based on a superfast ionization front

A. I. Gusev^a, S. K. Lyubutin^a, S. N. Rukin^a, B. G. Slovikovsky^a, S. N. Tsyranov<sup>ab

a</sup> Institute of Electrophysics, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg
^b Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, Ekaterinburg

Abstract: A silicon closing switch with successive breakdown mode of diode structures based on a superfast ionization front is studied. In a coaxial line with a 48-$\Omega$ wave impedance, pulses with an amplitude above 100 kV and a rise time of 40 ps at an amplitude level of 0.3–0.9 are obtained. The maximum output-voltage rise rate is 2 MV/ns at a switching-current peak density of 60 kA/cm$^2$. Numerical simulation shows that the switching time of individual structures of the device is 7–15 ps at a reverse-voltage rise rate of $>$100 kV/ns per structure under experimental conditions. The electric field in the $p$–$n$ junction reaches the Zener breakdown threshold ($\sim$ 10$^6$ V/cm) even in the case where the diode structure contains process-induced deep-level centers with concentrations of up to 10$^{13}$ cm$^{-3}$.

Received: 30.07.2013
Accepted: 11.11.2013

 English version: Semiconductors, 2014, 48:8, 1067–1078

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