quasi-three-dimensional spice-based simulation of the transient behavior, including plasma spread, of thyristors and over-voltage protectors文档.pdf

Microelectronics Reliability 42 (2002) 67–76 /locate/microrel Quasi-three-dimensional spice-based simulation of the transient behavior, including plasma spread, of thyristors and over-voltage protectors * 1 Rodolfo Quintero , Antonio Cerdeira, Adelmo Ortıız-Conde Seccioon de Electroonica del Estado Soolido, Dep. de Ingenierııa Eleectrica, CINVESTAV, Av. IPN 2508, eexico D.F., C.P. 07300, Mexico Received 3April 2001; received in revised form 11 June 2001 Abstract This paper describes a fast and reliable circuit-based simulation method of two-dimensional electrical transient characteristics of thyristors and over-voltage protectors (TOVP). Either device is divided into four-layered square prisms, and a one-dimensional PNP–NPN transistor pair model associated to each of them. The transistors are rep- resented with the Gummel–Poon model, complemented with breakdown and quasi-saturation sub-models. The cells in turn are coupled through the base planes, with current-modulated resistors. Plasma-spreading velocities obtained through simulation are comparable to experimentally obtained ones reported elsewhere. Spatial current density instabilities induced by device asymmetries are also presented. The required spatial resolution was attained by repre- senting these four-layer devices with up to 40,000 Spice circuit elements, including 3000 bipolar junction transistors. The associate