Analysis of the dependence of critical electric field on semiconductor bandgap

Abstract Understanding of semiconductor breakdown under high electric fields is an important aspect of materials’ properties, particularly for the design of power devices. For decades, a power-law has been used to describe the dependence of material-specific critical electrical field ($${\mathcal{E}}_{\text{crit}}$$) at which the material breaks down and bandgap (E_g). The relationship is often used to gauge tradeoffs of emerging materials whose properties haven’t yet been determined. Unfortunately, the reported dependencies of $${\mathcal{E}}_{\text{crit}}$$ on E_g cover a surprisingly wide range in the literature. Moreover, $${\mathcal{E}}_{\text{crit}}$$ is a function of material doping. Further, discrepancies arise in $${\mathcal{E}}_{\text{crit}}$$ values owing to differences between punch-through and non-punch-through device structures. We report a new normalization procedure that enables comparison of critical electric field values across materials, doping, and different device types. An extensive examination of numerous references reveals that the dependence $${\mathcal{E}}_{\text{crit}}$$ ∝ E_g^1.83 best fits the most reliable and newest data for both direct and indirect semiconductors. Graphical abstract