Effect of annealing on the electrical performance of N-polarity GaN Schottky barrier diodes

A nitrogen-polarity(N-polarity)GaN-based high electron mobility transistor(HEMT)shows great potential for high-fre-quency solid-state power amplifier applications because its two-dimensional electron gas(2DEG)density and mobility are mini-mally affected by device scaling.However,the Schottky barrier height(SBH)of N-polarity GaN is low.This leads to a large gate leakage in N-polarity GaN-based HEMTs.In this work,we investigate the effect of annealing on the electrical characteristics of N-polarity GaN-based Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs)with Ni/Au electrodes.Our results show that the annealing time and tem-perature have a large influence on the electrical properties of N-polarity GaN SBDs.Compared to the N-polarity SBD without annealing,the SBH and rectification ratio at±5 V of the SBD are increased from 0.51 eV and 30 to 0.77 eV and 7700,respec-tively,and the ideal factor of the SBD is decreased from 1.66 to 1.54 after an optimized annealing process.Our analysis results suggest that the improvement of the electrical properties of SBDs after annealing is mainly due to the reduction of the inter-face state density between Schottky contact metals and N-polarity GaN and the increase of barrier height for the electron emis-sion from the trap state at low reverse bias.

Improvement of Ga_(2)O_(3)vertical Schottky barrier diode by constructing NiO/Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction

The high critical electric field strength of Ga_(2)O_(3)enables higher operating voltages and reduced switching losses in power electronic devices.Suitable Schottky metals and epitaxial films are essential for further enhancing device performance.In this work,the fabrication of vertical Ga_(2)O_(3)barrier diodes with three different barrier metals was carried out on an n--Ga_(2)O_(3)homogeneous epitaxial film deposited on an n+-β-Ga_(2)O_(3)substrate by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition,excluding the use of edge terminals.The ideal factor,barrier height,specific on-resistance,and breakdown voltage characteristics of all devices were investigated at room temperature.In addition,the vertical Ga_(2)O_(3)barrier diodes achieve a higher breakdown volt-age and exhibit a reverse leakage as low as 4.82×10^(-8)A/cm^(2)by constructing a NiO/Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction.Therefore,Ga_(2)O_(3)power detailed investigations into Schottky barrier metal and NiO/Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction of Ga_(2)O_(3)homogeneous epitaxial films are of great research potential in high-efficiency,high-power,and high-reliability applications.

High performance trench diamond junction barrier Schottky diode with a sidewall-enhanced structure

The trench diamond junction barrier Schottky(JBS)diode with a sidewall enhanced structure is designed by Silvaco simulation.Comparing with the conventional trench JBS diode,Schottky contact areas are introduced on the sidewall of the trench beside the top cathode.The sidewall Schottky contact weakens the junction field-effect transistor effect between the trenches to realize a low on-resistance and a high Baliga's figure of merit(FOM)value.In addition,the existence of the n-type diamond helps to suppress the electric field crowding effect and enhance the reverse breakdown voltage.With the optimal parameters of device structure,a high Baliga's FOM value of 2.28 GW/cm^(2) is designed.Therefore,the proposed sidewall-enhanced trench JBS diode is a promising component for the applications in diamond power electronics.

β-Ga_(2)O_(3) junction barrier Schottky diode with NiO p-well floating field rings

Recently,β-Ga_(2)O_(3),an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor,has shown great potential to be used in power devices blessed with its unique material properties.For instance,the measured average critical field of the vertical Schottky barrier diode(SBD)based onβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) has reached 5.45 MV/cm,and no device in any material has measured a greater before.However,the high electric field of theβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) SBD makes it challenging to manage the electric field distribution and leakage current.Here,we showβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) junction barrier Schottky diode with NiO p-well floating field rings(FFRs).For the central anode,we filled a circular trench array with NiO to reduce the surface field under the Schottky contact between them to reduce the leakage current of the device.For the anode edge,experimental results have demonstrated that the produced NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3) heterojunction FFRs enable the spreading of the depletion region,thereby mitigating the crowding effect of electric fields at the anode edge.Additionally,simulation results indicated that the p-NiO field plate structure designed at the edges of the rings and central anode can further reduce the electric field.This work verified the feasibility of the heterojunction FFRs inβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) devices based on the experimental findings and provided ideas for managing the electric field ofβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) SBD.

High frequency doubling efficiency THz GaAs Schottky barrier diode based on inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-section structure

A high-performance terahertz Schottky barrier diode(SBD)with an inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-sectional structure featuring high varactor characteristics and reverse breakdown characteristics is reported in this paper.Inductively coupled plasma dry etching and dissolution wet etching are used to define the profile of the epitaxial layer,by which the voltage-dependent variation trend of the thickness of the metal-semiconductor contact depletion layer is modified.The simulation of the inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-section SBD is also conducted to explain the physical mechanism of the electric field and space charge region area.Compared with the normal structure,the grading coefficient M increases from 0.47 to 0.52,and the capacitance modulation ratio(C^(max)/C_(min))increases from 6.70 to 7.61.The inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-section structure is a promising approach to improve the variable-capacity ratio by eliminating the accumulation of charge at the Schottky electrode edge.A 190 GHz frequency doubler based on the inverted trapezoidal epitaxial cross-section SBD also shows a doubling efficiency of 35%compared to that 30%of a normal SBD.

Design optimization of high breakdown voltage vertical GaN junction barrier Schottky diode with high-K/low-K compound dielectric structure

A vertical junction barrier Schottky diode with a high-K/low-K compound dielectric structure is proposed and optimized to achieve a high breakdown voltage(BV).There is a discontinuity of the electric field at the interface of high-K and low-K layers due to the different dielectric constants of high-K and low-K dielectric layers.A new electric field peak is introduced in the n-type drift region of junction barrier Schottky diode(JBS),so the distribution of electric field in JBS becomes more uniform.At the same time,the effect of electric-power line concentration at the p-n junction interface is suppressed due to the effects of the high-K dielectric layer and an enhancement of breakdown voltage can be achieved.Numerical simulations demonstrate that GaN JBS with a specific on-resistance(R_(on,sp)) of 2.07 mΩ·cm^(2) and a BV of 4171 V which is 167% higher than the breakdown voltage of the common structure,resulting in a high figure-of-merit(FOM) of 8.6 GW/cm^(2),and a low turn-on voltage of 0.6 V.

Analysis and simulation of a 4H-SiC semi-superjunction Schottky barrier diode for softer reverse-recovery

In this paper, a 4H-SiC semi-superjunction （S J） Schottky barrier diode is analysed and simulated. The semi-SJ structure has an optimized design and a specific on-resistance lower than that of conventional SJ structures, which can be achieved without increasing the process difficulty. The simulation results show that the specific on-resistance and the softness factor depend on the aspect and thickness ratios, and that by using the semi-SJ structure, specific on-resistance can be reduced without decreasing the softness factor. It is observed that a trade-off exists between the specific on-resistance and the softness of the diode.

Study and optimal simulation of 4H-SiC floating junction Schottky barrier diodes' structures and electric properties

This paper stuides the structures of 4H SiC floating junction Schottky barrier diodes. Some structure parameters of devices are optimized with commercial simulator based on forward and reverse electrical characteristics. Compared with conventional power Schottky barrier diodes, the devices are featured by highly doped drift region and embedded floating junction layers, which can ensure high breakdown voltage while keeping lower specific on-state resistance, and solve the contradiction between forward voltage drop and breakdown voltage. The simulation results show that with optimized structure parameter, the breakdown voltage can reach 4.36 kV and the specific on-resistance is 5.8 mΩ.cm2 when the Baliga figure of merit value of 13.1 GW/cm2 is achieved.

A simulation study of field plate termination in Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes

In this work, the field plate termination is studied for Ga2O3Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs) by simulation. The influence of field plate overlap, dielectric material and thickness on the termination electric field distribution are demonstrated.It is found that the optimal thickness increases with reverse bias increasing for all the three dielectrics of SiO2, Al2O3, and HfO2. As the thickness increases, the maximum electric field intensity decreases in SiO2and Al2O3, but increases in HfO2.Furthermore, it is found that SiO2and HfO2are suitable for the 600 V rate Ga2O3SBD, and Al2O3is suitable for both600 V and 1200 V rate Ga2O3SBD. In addition, the comparison of Ga2O3SBDs between the SiC and GaN counterpart reveals that for Ga2O3, the breakdown voltage bottleneck is the dielectric. While, for SiC and GaN, the bottleneck is mainly the semiconductor itself.

Modeling of 4H-SiC multi-floating-junction Schottky barrier diode

This paper develops a new and easy to implement analytical model for the specific on-resistance and electric field distribution along the critical path for 4H-SiC multi-floating junction Schottky barrier diode. Considering the charge compensation effects by the multilayer of buried opposite doped regions, it improves the breakdown voltage a lot in comparison with conventional one with the same on-resistance. The forward resistance of the floating junction Schottky barrier diode consists of several components and the electric field can be understood with superposition concept, both are consistent with MEDICI simulation results. Moreover, device parameters are optimized and the analyses show that in comparison with one layer floating junction, multilayer of floating junction layer is an effective way to increase the device performance when specific resistance and the breakdown voltage are traded off. The results show that the specific resistance increases 3.2 mΩ.cm2 and breakdown voltage increases 422 V with an additional floating junction for the given structure.

Temperature-dependent characteristics of 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky diodes

The current-voltage characteristics of 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky （JBS） diodes terminated by an offset field plate have been measured in the temperature range of 25-300℃. An experimental barrier height value of about 0.5 eV is obtained for the Ti/4H-SiC JBS diodes at room temperature. A decrease in the experimental barrier height and an increase in the ideality factor with decreasing temperature are shown. Reverse recovery testing also shows the temperature dependence of the peak recovery current density and the reverse recovery time. Finally, a discussion of reducing the reverse recovery time is presented.

Effect of diode size and series resistance on barrier height and ideality factor in nearly ideal Au/n type-GaAs micro Schottky contact diodes

Small high-quality Au/n type-GaAs Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） with low reverse leakage current are produced using lithography. Their effective barrier heights （BHs） and ideality factors from current-voltage （I-V） characteristics are measured by a Pico ampere meter and home-built I-V instrument. In spite of the identical preparation of the diodes there is a diode-to-diode variation in ideality factor and barrier height parameters. Measurement of topology of a surface of a thin metal film with atomic force microscope （AFM） shows that Au-n type-GaAS SD consists of a set of parallel-connected micro and nanocontacts diodes with sizes approximately in a range of 100-200 nm. Between barrier height and ideality factor there is an inversely proportional dependency. With the diameter of contact increasing from 5 μm up to 200 μm, the barrier height increases from 0.833 up to 0.933 eV and its ideality factor decreases from 1.11 down to 1.006. These dependencies show the reduction of the contribution of the peripheral current with the diameter of contact increasing. We find the effect of series resistance on barrier height and ideality factor.

Lateralβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)Schottky barrier diode fabricated on(-201)single crystal substrate and its temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics

Lateralβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs)each are fabricated on an unintentionally doped(-201)n-typeβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)single crystal substrate by designing L-shaped electrodes.By introducing sidewall electrodes on both sides of the conductive channel,the SBD demonstrates a high current density of 223 mA/mm and low specific on-resistance of4.7 mΩ·cm^(2).Temperature-dependent performance is studied and the Schottky barrier height is extracted to be in a range between 1.3 eV and 1.35 eV at temperatures ranging from 20℃to 150℃.These results suggest that the lateralβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)SBD has a tremendous potential for future power electronic applications.

High performance trench MOS barrier Schottky diode with high-k gate oxide

A novel trench MOS barrier Schottky diode（TMBS） device with a high-k material introduced into the gate insulator is reported, which is named high-k TMBS. By simulation with Medici, it is found that the high-k TMBS can have 19.8% lower leakage current while maintaining the same breakdown voltage and forward turn-on voltage compared with the conventional regular trench TMBS.

Degradation of β-Ga_(2)O_(3) Schottky barrier diode under swift heavy ion irradiation

The electrical characteristics and microstructures ofβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) Schottky barrier diode(SBD)devices irradiated with swift heavy ions(2096 MeV Ta ions)have been studied.It was found thatβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) SBD devices showed the reliability degradation after irradiation,including turn-on voltage Von,on-resistance Ron,ideality factor n,and the reverse leakage current density Jr.In addition,the carrier concentration of the drift layer was decreased significantly and the calculated carrier removal rates were 5×10^(6)-1.3×10^(7)cm^(-1).Latent tracks induced by swift heavy ions were observed visually in the wholeβ-Ga2O3 matrix.Furthermore,crystal structure of tracks was amorphized completely.The latent tracks induced by Ta ions bombardments were found to be the reason for the decrease in carrier mobility and carrier concentration.Eventually,these defects caused the degradation of electrical characteristics of the devices.In terms of the carrier removal rates,theβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) SBD devices were more sensitive to swift heavy ions irradiation than SiC and GaN devices.

4H-SiC trench MOSFET with an integrated Schottky barrier diode and L-shaped P^+shielding region

A novel 4H-SiC trench MOSFET is presented and investigated by simulation in this paper.The device features an integrated Schottky barrier diode and an L-shaped P^+shielding region beneath the gate trench and aside one wall of the gate trench(S-TMOS).The integrated Schottky barrier diode works as a free-wheeling diode in reverse recovery and reverse conduction,which significantly reduces reverse recovery charge(Q_(rr))and reverse turn-on voltage(VF).The L-shaped P^+region effectively shields the coupling of gate and drain,resulting in a lower gate–drain capacitance(C_(gd))and date–drain charge(Q_(gd)).Compared with that of conventional SiC trench MOSFET(C-TMOS),the V_F and Q_(rr)of S-TMOS has reduced by 44%and 75%,respectively,with almost the same forward output current and reverse breakdown voltage.Moreover,the S-TMOS reduces Q_(gd)and C_(gd)by 32%and 22%,respectively,in comparison with C-TMOS.

High energy electron radiation effect on Ni and Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes at room temperature

This paper reports that Ni and Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） were fabricated and irradiated with 1 MeV electrons up to a dose of 3.43 × 10^14 e/cm2. After radiation, the Schottky barrier height φB of the Ni/4H-SiC SBD increased from 1.20 eV to 1.21 eV, but decreased from 0.95 eV to 0.94 eV for the Ti/4H-SiC SBD. The degradation of φB could be explained by interface states of changed Schottky contacts. The on-state resistance Rs of both diodes increased with the dose, which can be ascribed to the radiation defects. The reverse current of the Ni/4H-SiC SBD slightly increased, but for the Ti/4H-SiC SBD it basically remained the same. At room temperature, φB of the diodes recovered completely after one week, and the RS partly recovered.

Study of 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky diode using field guard ring termination

This paper reports that the 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diode, PiN diode and junction barrier Schottky diode terminated by field guard rings are designed, fabricated and characterised. The measurements for forward and reverse characteristics have been done, and by comparison with each other, it shows that junction barrier Schottky diode has a lower reverse current density than that of the Schottky barrier diode and a higher forward drop than that of the PiN diode. High-temperature annealing is presented in this paper as well to figure out an optimised processing. The barrier height of 0.79 eV is formed with Ti in this work, the forward drop for the Schottky diode is 2.1 V, with an ideality factor of 3.2, and junction barrier Schottky diode with blocking voltage higher than 400 V was achieved by using field guard ring termination.

Investigation of lateral spreading current in the 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diode chip

Lateral current spreading in the 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diode(SBD)chip is investigated.The 4H-SiC SBD chips with the same vertical parameters are simulated and fabricated.The results indicate that there is a fixed spreading resistance at on-state in current spreading region for a specific chip.The linear specific spreading resistance at the on-state is calculated to be 8.6Ω/cm in the fabricated chips.The proportion of the lateral spreading current in total forward current(Psp)is related to anode voltage and the chip area.Psp is increased with the increase in the anode voltage during initial on-state and then tends to a stable value.The stable values of Psp of the two fabricated chips are 32%and 54%.Combined with theoretical analysis,the proportion of the terminal region and scribing trench in a whole chip(Ksp)is also calculated and compared with Psp.The Ksp values of the two fabricated chips are calculated to be 31.94%and 57.75%.The values of Ksp and Psp are close with each other in a specific chip.The calculated Ksp can be used to predict that when the chip area of SiC SBD becomes larger than 0.5 cm2,the value of Psp would be lower than 10%.

Device topological thermal management of β-Ga_(2)O_(3) Schottky barrier diodes

The ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor β gallium oxide(β-Ga_(2) O_(3)) gives promise to low conduction loss and high power for electronic devices. However, due to the natural poor thermal conductivity of β-Ga_(2) O_(3), their power devices suffer from serious self-heating effect. To overcome this problem, we emphasize on the effect of device structure on peak temperature in β-Ga_(2) O_(3) Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs) using TCAD simulation and experiment. The SBD topologies including crystal orientation of β-Ga_(2) O_(3), work function of Schottky metal, anode area, and thickness, were simulated in TCAD, showing that the thickness of β-Ga_(2) O_(3) plays a key role in reducing the peak temperature of diodes. Hence, we fabricated β-Ga_(2) O_(3) SBDs with three different thickness epitaxial layers and five different thickness substrates. The surface temperature of the diodes was measured using an infrared thermal imaging camera. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation results. Thus, our results provide a new thermal management strategy for high power β-Ga_(2) O_(3) diode.