Investigations of electrical and thermal properties in semiconductor device based on a thermoelectrical model

Semiconductor materials keep occupying an excellent technological position for their importance in building integrated electronic systems. Semiconductor bridge (SCB) with N-type phosphorus-doped silicon material is a new generation of ignition device developed by semiconductor integrated circuit technology. A thermoelectrical model of the ignition device is established in this paper with the consideration of the external capacitor discharge circuit of SCB. The results reveal the thermal properties and electrical properties of the semiconductor device. The time evolution of electric field, current density and temperature distribution during the transient heating process are analyzed. In particular, the temperature distributions of the device show an obvious uneven melting phenomenon; ranging from room temperature to the melting point, the peak temperature points of the SCB transfer versus time, from the edges (0–1.78 ns) to the middle of the bridge (1.78–2.74 ns). The proposed model with specific heavily doped semiconductor material shows that the vaporization fronts tend to originate at the middle of the bridge, rather than the edges. An analysis on the relationship between thermal field and electrical field is conducted, demonstrating that the changes of temperature peak points in SCB are highly relevant to the “flow around” phenomenon in the uneven current density distribution.