Simulation of thyristor single event burnout due to neutron irradiation

In this paper, based on the thyristor model used in the converter valve of the Ultra-High Voltage Direct Current (UHVDC) transmission project, the single event burnout (SEB) caused by atmospheric neutron irradiation is simulated and analyzed. In the simulation, the energy distribution of secondary particles and the change of device parameters caused by neutron incidence are obtained by GEANT4 and Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) simulation platforms with reference to the real atmospheric neutron energy spectrum. By changing the Linear energy transfer (LET) value, incident depth and incident position of the incident high-energy particles in the thyristor model, the change of the leakage current of the device is obtained. The simulation results show that the LET value of the incident particles has the greatest influence on the leakage current of the device, and in some cases, it will directly cause the device to burn down.