Physical Limitations of Semiconductor Devices provides an in depth understanding of the phenomena and regularities that play a critical role in the limitation of semiconductor device capabilities. It discusses how thermo-electrical breakdown, conductivity modulation, and electrical and spatial current instability phenomena affect the limitations of the devices. The authors give examples of the phenomena ranging from elementary semiconductor diode structures to discrete power and integrated components. They also show circuits both for silicon and compound semiconductor devices.

This book provides an important link between the theoretical knowledge in the field of non-linier physics and practical application problems in microelectronics. It delivers different levels of understanding of the physical phenomena that play a critical role in limitation of the semiconductor device capabilities, physical safe operating area limitation, and different scenarios of catastrophic failures in semiconductor devices. The book focuses on power semiconductor devices and self-triggering pulsed power devices for ESD protection clamps. Another unique aspect of the book is the role of local structural defects, their mathematical description, and their impact on the reliability of the semiconductor devices. One of the major challenges the book covers is the gap in understanding of major physical regularities between the theoretical knowledge in the field of non-linier phenomena in semiconductors and the reliability and ESD protection problems in process and device development, circuit design, TCAD, and applications.

Failures of Semiconductor Device.- Theoretical Basis of Current Instability in Transistor Structures.- Thermal Instability Mechanism.- Isothermal Current Instability in Silicon BJT and MOSFETs.- Isothermal Instability in Compound Semiconductor Devices.- Degradation Instabilities.- Conductivity Modulation in ESD devices.- Physical Approach to Reliability.