Multiple current filaments and filament confinement in silicon based PIN diodes

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is one of the greatest reliability risks for modern electronics. Failures occur due to a high current injection. One of the dominant failure mechanisms during an ESD event is thermal runaway caused by an avalanche breakdown leading to an inhomogeneous current flow and a current filament. Investigations on the formation and motion of current filaments were carried out with the help of special test structures of silicon based PIN diodes using technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations and transmission line pulse (TLP) measurements. In thin structures the current filament gets constricted (filament confinement), which can lead to the formation of multiple current filaments.