I mean due electrons or hole which will effect the device to get into not working condition.
Semiconductor devices are burned because of excessively heating them. When applying voltages on a semiconductor device electric currents pass through it. Therefore, an electric power which is the current multiplied by the voltage is consumed in the device. This dissipated power is converted to heat. increasing the device temperature even if a heat sink is used to cool the device. Then it is not only the current but it is the dissipated power which causes heating up the device.
When increasing the dissipated power beyond the allowed maximum power given by the manufacturer the semiconductor material in the device reaches its critical allowed internal temperature where the material conduction properties changes appreciably from initial behavior at lower temperatures. If the dissipated power is slightly increased than the maximum power the semiconductor material changes in irreversible manner because of the excessive thermal generation of the electron -hole pairs leading to excessive current increase which in turn increases the dissipated power further and the cycle repeats until the material melts (burns) and the device is no longer usable. This is thermal run away mentioned by Prof. Muth.
It is found that the critical temperature of silicon is about 120 degree centigrade.
If the device is reverse biased it can be also damaged because of the excessive current at the breakdown voltage. Therefore, the manufacturers give a maximum limit for the device reverse current,
In the other extreme,When the device is on and its voltage drop is small, increasing the device current than the maximum device current leads to device destruction by fusing internal connecting wire.
So, the device can be destructed by excessive power. by excessive leakage current, and by excessive maximum current when the device is on.
To describe all these boundaries, one introduced the concept of the safe operating area.Operating the device inside this area it will be safe.This topic is treated in more details in the standard books of power semiconductor devices
Thank you for your interesting question.
Usually it is an issue with heating. If the current in the device is to large and the heat is not dissipated, the material characteristics can start to change. i.e. thermal run away as the heat increases the electron concentration, which increases the current etc.
In some cases like some optoelectronic devices you can have defects form and grow if the current density becomes too high. Often contacts can fail because of current crowding, or high local electric fields near the contact. There are other ways for devices to fail, for example electromigration in very thin metal lines.
by the application of high voltage, the electron's energy raised to a higher energy level, and becoz of this the mobility if free electron gets higher. By the high mobile electrons, the device get thermally heated up. thats why the heat sinks are required in IC Packages, to rid off the eccessive heat. so electrons are mainlly caused for heating problem in ICs.
Semiconductor devices are burned because of excessively heating them. When applying voltages on a semiconductor device electric currents pass through it. Therefore, an electric power which is the current multiplied by the voltage is consumed in the device. This dissipated power is converted to heat. increasing the device temperature even if a heat sink is used to cool the device. Then it is not only the current but it is the dissipated power which causes heating up the device.
When increasing the dissipated power beyond the allowed maximum power given by the manufacturer the semiconductor material in the device reaches its critical allowed internal temperature where the material conduction properties changes appreciably from initial behavior at lower temperatures. If the dissipated power is slightly increased than the maximum power the semiconductor material changes in irreversible manner because of the excessive thermal generation of the electron -hole pairs leading to excessive current increase which in turn increases the dissipated power further and the cycle repeats until the material melts (burns) and the device is no longer usable. This is thermal run away mentioned by Prof. Muth.
It is found that the critical temperature of silicon is about 120 degree centigrade.
If the device is reverse biased it can be also damaged because of the excessive current at the breakdown voltage. Therefore, the manufacturers give a maximum limit for the device reverse current,
In the other extreme,When the device is on and its voltage drop is small, increasing the device current than the maximum device current leads to device destruction by fusing internal connecting wire.
So, the device can be destructed by excessive power. by excessive leakage current, and by excessive maximum current when the device is on.
To describe all these boundaries, one introduced the concept of the safe operating area.Operating the device inside this area it will be safe.This topic is treated in more details in the standard books of power semiconductor devices
Thank you for your interesting question.
Due to Effect of Electromigration. The detail of electromigration already has been given by Abdelhalim Zekry
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