Single-event burnout (SEB) is a catastrophic failure mechanism in power diodes that is initiated by the passage of a heavy ion through a diode in a current-blocking state. In this work, the physical mechanism responsible for device failure during SEB is investigated using transient, coupled electro-thermal, device simulations. For the first time, the effects of a thermal feedback mechanism have been examined and deemed crucial to predicting possible failure in power diodes. Results indicate that device failure is predicted for large blocking voltage near breakdown with a linear energy transfer (LET) of 30MeV/mg/cm2 only when thermal effects are included. However, without inclusion of the thermal model, no device failure is predicted. These results correspond to experimental observations better than any previous work.
