STROBOSCOPIC INVESTIGATION OF THERMAL SWITCHING IN AN AVALANCHING DIODE
Richard A. Sunshine, Murray A. Lampert · Applied Physics Letters · 1971
A new stroboscopic technique for investigating thermal switching has been used to yield a new model describing the time and spatial development of a thermal-current constriction evolving out of a uniformly avalanching junction. The thermal instability was found to be caused by the buildup of thermally-generated reverse-bias diode current as the junction heated. The junction temperature at the time the constriction formed was a function of the applied bias. The constriction formed in less than 100 nsec in all cases. The ability of the constriction to penetrate the series material depended entirely upon whether this material was heated to its instrinsic temperature.