A two-dimensional (2-D) semiconductor bridge (SCB) thermo-electric model is exploited to obtain a thorough understanding of the strongly coupled multi-field problem, in particular for the engineering implementation with respect to the transient heat transfer mechanism. The governing equations include the Maxwell's Poisson equation, the electron concentration equation, the hole concentration equation, and the Fourier heat conduction equation; in such way, the thermo-electric interaction occurring in the SCB is accurately described. The finite difference method is used to calculate the numerical model. A 1-D SCB model is used to testify the proposed approach and the numerical results of the proposed 2-D SCB model reveal the specific physical properties with respect to the thermal field and the electric field in the SCB system. The results show that the edges of SCB are first vaporized with an obvious uneven melting by analyzing the temperature distribution; and due to the proposed 2-D model, "heat island" can be clearly found to have higher temperature than the rest of the SCB system since the SCB usually has very special geometry; and the existence of the "heat island" in the SCB system is interpreted theoretically. Besides, the numerical results are verified by the SCB ignition experiments as well. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.