Optical microscope images of one of the irradiated diodes before and after the SEB event, showing the catastrophic damage inflicted by a single energetic particle.
Image Credit: Cristyan Quiñones.
Scientific Frontline: Extended "At a Glance" Summary: Single-Event Burnout in Semiconductors
The Core Concept: Single-event burnout (SEB) is the catastrophic failure of an electronic device exposed to radiation. It occurs when a single energetic particle causes severe structural damage, rendering the semiconductor inoperable under high voltage.
Key Distinction/Mechanism: When heavy ions from radiation pass through a semiconductor material, they generate charge carriers. An applied voltage separates these positive and negative charges to create a localized electric field; when this field reaches a critical magnitude, it triggers an avalanche of electrons that releases a massive, destructive burst of energy.
Origin/History: The precise physical mechanism behind SEB was definitively resolved in a November 5, 2026, study published in IEEE Transactions in Nuclear Science by researchers from North Carolina State University, NASA, and Adroit Materials, Inc.
Major Frameworks/Components:
- Aluminum Nitride (AlN): An ultrawide bandgap semiconductor tested for its capacity to sustain significantly higher electric fields than standard materials before experiencing burnout.
- Critical Applied Electric Field: A novel metric introduced to evaluate and compare burnout thresholds independent of specific device design parameters.
- Linear Energy Transfer (LET): A parameter used to assess the energy deposited by penetrating ions and its relationship to decreasing burnout thresholds.
- Avalanche Breakdown: The fundamental physical process identified as the ultimate trigger of SEB induced by ion-generated charge separation.
Branches of Science: Solid-State Physics, Materials Science, Semiconductor Physics, and Nuclear Engineering.
Future Application: These insights enable the formulation of analytical design rules for engineering radiation-resistant electronics utilized in space exploration, nuclear energy facilities, fusion reactors, and biomedical technologies.
Why It Matters: By identifying the exact physics underlying single-event burnout, engineers can transition from empirical trial-and-error testing to systematically designing hardware that safely withstands extreme radiation environments.
Researchers have solved a longstanding physics puzzle, explaining why electronic devices can fail catastrophically when exposed to radiation. Their findings may hold the key to engineering new electronics that can better withstand extreme environments, with applications ranging from nuclear energy to space exploration.
The discovery stems from the researchers' experiments with aluminum nitride (AlN), which is an ultrawide-bandgap semiconductor. Consequently, AlN is suitable for electronic components subjected to high power loads. In theory, AlN also holds promise for use in extreme environments, such as radioactive settings.
To test that theory, the researchers wanted to explore a phenomenon called single-event burnout (SEB), which is when an electronic device is exposed to radiation and a single energetic particle causes catastrophic failure in the device—making the device inoperable and causing structural damage. SEB occurs when high voltage is applied to a device that is exposed to radiation. Different devices can handle different amounts of voltage before SEB occurs.
“We wanted to characterize AlN electronics that we pioneered to see how much power the electronics could handle before SEB took place,” says Cristyan Quiñones, corresponding author of a paper on the work and a recent PhD graduate from North Carolina State University.
“The design of a device affects how much voltage a semiconductor material can sustain before SEB occurs. So, if you want to compare the performance of one material to another, you have to look at electric field rather than voltage. And when we compared the electric field AlN could sustain to other semiconductors, we found that AlN could handle significantly higher fields.”
To better understand what they were seeing, the researchers analyzed the data from their experiments in conjunction with the available data on SEB in other materials. Ultimately, the researchers used computational simulations to develop an analytical model that explains the actual physics behind SEB.
“Before, we knew SEB happened, and we could test a device’s capacity to withstand SEB,” says Quiñones. “But now we know why.”
When a device is exposed to radiation, heavy ions pass through the material. These ions generate charge carriers in the material, and as voltage is applied to the device, the positive and negative charges separate. This creates a localized electric field. When that electric field reaches a critical magnitude, it triggers an avalanche of electrons, resulting in a massive, highly localized dissipation of thermal energy. This localized energy release constitutes the single-event burnout.
“Understanding the actual physics behind SEB is important,” says Ramón Collazo, coauthor of the paper and a professor of materials science and engineering at NC State, “because understanding allows for the possibility of engineering materials for use in radiation-resistant devices, as well as designing more resistant devices themselves.”
“We could not do that before, because we did not know what was actually happening in detail,” says Collazo. “This new understanding means we can develop design rules to harden devices against radiation and minimize the damage caused by SEB.”
The researchers tested their analytical model to see whether it was capable of explaining the observed SEB data from other devices and materials and found that it fit the data.
“Our model was able to explain what we were seeing across the board,” says Quiñones.
“We think this model will be a valuable tool for developing devices with applications ranging from nuclear energy and space exploration to biomedical technologies and fusion experimentation,” says Collazo.
Funding: This work was supported in part by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grants FA9550-24-1-0269 and FA9550-19-1-0114; the Army Research Office under grant W911NF-22-2-0171; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under grant HR0011-24-9-0457; and a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO 80NSSC22K1198).
Published in journal: IEEE Transactions in Nuclear Science
Title: Single-event burnout of AlN diodes under heavy-ion irradiation
Authors: Cristyan E. Quiñones, Jason M. Osheroff, Pramod Reddy, Michael Carter, Dolar Khachariya, Seiji Mita, Ronny Kirste, Ramón Collazo, and Zlatko Sitar
Source/Credit: North Carolina State University | Matt Shipman
Edited by: Scientific Frontline
Reference Number: phy111226_01
