Study of leakage current degradation based on stacking faults expansion in irradiated SiC junction barrier Schottky diodes

A comprehensive investigation was conducted to explore the degradation mechanism of leakage current in SiC junction barrier Schottky(JBS)diodes under heavy ion irradiation.We propose and verify that the generation of stacking faults(SFs)induced by the recombination of massive electron-hole pairs during irradiation is the cause of reverse leakage current degradation based on experiments results.The irradiation experiment was carried out based on Ta ions with high linear energy transfer(LET)of 90.5 MeV/(mg/cm^(2)).It is observed that the leakage current of the diode undergoes the permanent increase during irradiation when biased at 20%of the rated reverse voltage.Micro-PL spectroscopy and PL micro-imaging were utilized to detect the presence of SFs in the irradiated SiC JBS diodes.We combined the degraded performance of irradiated samples with SFs introduced by heavy ion irradiation.Finally,three-dimensional(3D)TCAD simulation was employed to evaluate the excessive electron-hole pairs(EHPs)concentration excited by heavy ion irradiation.It was observed that the excessive hole concentration under irradiation exceeded significantly the threshold hole concentration necessary for the expansion of SFs in the substrate.The proposed mechanism suggests that the process and material characteristics of the silicon carbide should be considered in order to reinforcing against the single event effect of SiC power devices.

Suppressing Leakage Currents and Improving Performance of Indoor Organic Photovoltaic Devices

Organic photovoltaic(OPV) devices hold great promise for indoor light harvesting,offering a theoretical upper limit of power conversion efficiency that surpasses that of other photovoltaic technologies.However,the presence of high leakage currents in OPV devices commonly constrains their effective performance under indoor conditions.In this study,we identified that the origin of the high leakage currents in OPV devices lay in pinhole defects present within the active layer(AL).By integrating an automated spin-coating strategy with sequential deposition processes,we achieved the compactness of the AL and minimized the occurrence of pinhole defects therein.Experimental findings demonstrated that with an increase in the number of deposition cycles,the density of pinhole defects in the AL underwent a marked reduction.Consequently,the leakage current experienced a substantial decrease by several orders of magnitude which achieved through well-calibrated AL deposition procedures.This enabled a twofold enhancement in the power conversion efficiency(PCE) of the OPV devices under conditions of indoor illumination.

Enhanced ferroelectric and improved leakage of BFO-based thin films through increasing entropy strategy

BiFeO_(3)(BFO)has received considerable attention as a lead-free ferroelectric film due to its large theoretical remnant polariza-tion.However,BFO suffers from a large leakage current,resulting in poor ferroelectric properties.Herein,the sol-gel method was used to deposit a series of BFO-based thin films on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates,and the effects of the substitution of the elements Co,Cu,Mn(B-site)and Sm,Eu,La(A-site)on the crystal structure,ferroelectricity,and leakage current of the BFO-based thin films were invest-igated.Results confirmed that lattice distortion by X-ray diffraction can be attributed to the substitution of individual elements in the BFO-based films.Sm and Eu substitutions contribute to the lattice distortion in a pseudo-cubic structure,while La is biased toward pseudo-tet-ragonal.Piezoelectric force microscopy confirmed that reversible switching of ferroelectric domains by nearly 180°can be realized through the prepared films.The ferroelectric hysteresis loops showed that the order for the polarization contribution is as follows:Cu>Co>Mn(B-site),Sm>La>Eu(A-site).The current density voltage curves indicated that the order for leakage contribution is as follows:Mn<Cu<Co(B-site),La<Eu<Sm(A-site).Scanning electron microscopy showed that the introduction of Cu elements facilitates the formation of dense grains,and the grain size distribution statistics proved that La element promotes the reduction of grain size,leading to the increase of grain boundaries and the reduction of leakage.Finally,a Bi_(0.985)Sm_(0.045)La_(0.03)Fe_(0.96)Co_(0.02)Cu_(0.02)O_(3)(SmLa-CoCu)thin film with a qualitative leap in the remnant polarization from 25.5(Bi_(0.985)Sm_(0.075)FeO_(3))to 98.8µC/cm^(2)(SmLa-CoCu)was prepared through the syner-gistic action of Sm,La,Co,and Cu elements.The leakage current is also drastically reduced from 160 to 8.4 mA/cm^(2)at a field strength of 150 kV/cm.Thus,based on the increasing entropy strategy of chemical engineering,this study focuses on enhancing ferroelectricity and decreasing leakage current,providing a promising path for the advancement of ferroelectric devices.

NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction diodes with ultra-low leakage current below 10^(-10)A and high thermostability

The 10 nm p-NiO thin film is prepared by thermal oxidation of Ni onβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)to form NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)p-n heterojunction diodes(HJDs).The NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)HJDs exhibit excellent electrostatic properties,with a high breakdown voltage of 465 V,a specific on-resistance(Ron,sp)of 3.39 mΩ·cm^(2),and a turn-on voltage(V on)of 1.85 V,yielding a static Baliga's figure of merit(FOM)of 256 MW/cm^(2).Also,the HJDs have a low turn-on voltage,which reduces conduction loss dramatically,and a rectification ratio of up to 108.Meanwhile,the HJDs'reverse leakage current is essentially unaffected at temperatures below 170?C,and their leakage level may be controlled below 10^(-10)A.This indicates that p-NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)HJDs with good thermal stability and high-temperature operating ability can be a good option for high-performanceβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)power devices.

A Novel Multi-Functional Leakage Current Protector IC Design

A novel type of leakage current protector chip,implemented in the mixed-signal 0.6μm CMOS process,is presented. This chip has the advantages of low power dissipation （10mW）, accurate protection control based on digital response delay time and integration of multi-functions such as leakage current/over-voltage/over-load detection and protection,auto switch-on and so forth. Additionally, the chip is programmable to suit different three-level protection applications with a high anti-interference ability.

Stress Induced Leakage Current in Different Thickness Ultrathin Gate Oxide MOSFET

A study of the gate current variation is presented for various thickness ultrathin gate oxides ranging from 1.9 to 3.0nm under the constant voltage stress.The experimental results show the stress induced leakage current(SILC) includes two parts.One is due to the interface trap-assisted tunneling.The other is owing to the oxide trap-assisted tunneling.

Research on leakage current test method

In the leakage current test, through the high speed data collection and digital filtering to the output voltage of the human body impedance network, leakage current test that is in accordance with many kinds of electrical safety standards can be realized, and the frequency distribution information of the leakage current can be got as well, which can be used to much more completely evaluate the possible damage degree of the leakage current to the human body and analyze the reason for the appearance of the leakage current in the electric equipment.

A Review of Novel Leakage Current Suppression Techniques for Transformerless Photovoltaic Inverters

漏电流抑制是无变压器型光伏并网系统需要解决的关键问题之一。VDE-0126-1-1标准规定,漏电流高于300 mA时光伏并网系统必须在0.3 s内从电网中切除。为了解释漏电流的根源,建立系统共模电压数学模型,在此基础上分析漏电流产生的原因,探讨不同调制策略对漏电流的影响,然后介绍几种典型的、能够有效抑制漏电流的电路拓扑结构,并分析各种拓扑的工作原理和特点。最后对漏电流抑制技术方面的发展趋势做了展望。

Transport mechanism of reverse surface leakage current in AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor with SiN passivation

The transport mechanism of reverse surface leakage current in the AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor（HEMT） becomes one of the most important reliability issues with the downscaling of feature size.In this paper,the research results show that the reverse surface leakage current in AlGaN/GaN HEMT with SiN passivation increases with the enhancement of temperature in the range from 298 K to 423 K.Three possible transport mechanisms are proposed and examined to explain the generation of reverse surface leakage current.By comparing the experimental data with the numerical transport models,it is found that neither Fowler-Nordheim tunneling nor Frenkel-Poole emission can describe the transport of reverse surface leakage current.However,good agreement is found between the experimental data and the two-dimensional variable range hopping（2D-VRH） model.Therefore,it is concluded that the reverse surface leakage current is dominated by the electron hopping through the surface states at the barrier layer.Moreover,the activation energy of surface leakage current is extracted,which is around 0.083 eV.Finally,the SiN passivated HEMT with a high Al composition and a thin AlGaN barrier layer is also studied.It is observed that 2D-VRH still dominates the reverse surface leakage current and the activation energy is around 0.10 eV,which demonstrates that the alteration of the AlGaN barrier layer does not affect the transport mechanism of reverse surface leakage current in this paper.

The conduction mechanism of stress induced leakage current through ultra-thin gate oxide under constant voltage stresses

The conduction mechanism of stress induced leakage current （SILC） through 2nm gate oxide is studied over a gate voltage range between 1.7V and stress voltage under constant voltage stress （CVS）. The simulation results show that the SILC is formed by trap-assisted tunnelling （TAT） process which is dominated by oxide traps induced by high field stresses. Their energy levels obtained by this work are approximately 1.9eV from the oxide conduction band, and the traps are believed to be the oxygen-related donor-like defects induced by high field stresses. The dependence of the trap density on stress time and oxide electric field is also investigated.

Study of Leakage Current Behaviour on Artificially Polluted Surface of Ceramic Insulator

This paper presents the results of the study concerning to the leakagecurrent behaviour on artificially polluted ceramic insulator surface. From the present study it wasobserved that there is a reasonably well-defined inception of current i.e. scintillations at afinite voltage, The corresponding voltages for extinction of the current are in the range of 0.8 kVto 2.1 kV. Obviously, the dry band formed in the immediate vicinity of the pin prevents smoothcurrent flow as the voltage rises from zero. Only when the voltage is adequate it causes a flashoverof the dry band and current starts flowing. As is common in similar current extinction phenomena,here also, the extinction voltages are significantly lower than the inception voltages. Further, thevoltage-current curves invariably show hysteresis - the leakage currents are lower in the reducingportion of the voltage. This is obviously due to drying of the wet pollutant layer therebyincreasing its resistance. It is believed that this is the first time that such a directquantitative evidence of drying in individual half cycles is experimentally visualized.

Local leakage current behaviours of BiFeO_3 films

The leakage current behaviours of polycrystalline BiFeO3 thin films are investigated by using both conductive atomic force microscopy and current-voltage characteristic measurements. The local charge transport pathways are found to be located mainly at the grain boundaries of the films. The leakage current density can be tuned by changing the post-annealing temperature, the annealing time, the bias voltage and the light illumination, which can be used to improve the performances of the ferroelectric devices based on the BiFeOa films. A possible leakage mechanism is proposed to interpret the charge transports in the polycrystalline BiFeO3 films.

H6 Non-isolated Full Bridge Grid-connected PV Inverters With Low Leakage Currents

为满足非隔离光伏并网发电系统对共模漏电流的限制，提出一种六开关逆变器拓朴（H6拓扑）。所提出的H6拓扑在功率传输模态时，进网电流半个工频周期流过3支开关管，而另半个工频周期流过2支开关管，故相对于H5拓扑，降低了通态损耗，有利于热应力均衡，且仍满足续流阶段光伏电池输出端与电网脱离的要求。详细分析拓扑的工作原理，并推论给出H6非隔离光伏并网逆变器的其它3种拓扑结构；比较分析了H5拓扑、Heric拓扑和H6拓扑的损耗和成本。通过1kW通用样机平台对比验证了上述3种拓扑的效率和共模特性。实验结果表明，H6拓扑的变换效率高于H5拓扑、但略低于Heric拓扑，共模特性优于Heric拓扑、但略劣于H5拓扑。

On the reverse leakage current of Schottky contacts on free-standing GaN at high reverse biases

In this work, a dislocation-related tunneling leakage current model is developed to explain the temperature-dependent reverse current–voltage（I–V –T） characteristics of a Schottky barrier diode fabricated on free-standing GaN substrate for reverse-bias voltages up to-150 V. The model suggests that the reverse leakage current is dominated by the direct tunneling of electrons from Schottky contact metal into a continuum of states associated with conductive dislocations in GaN epilayer.A reverse leakage current ideality factor, which originates from the scattering effect at metal/GaN interface, is introduced into the model. Good agreement between the experimental data and the simulated I–V curves is obtained.

Modified model of gate leakage currents in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

It has been reported that the gate leakage currents are described by the Frenkel-Poole emission(FPE) model,at temperatures higher than 250 K.However,the gate leakage currents of our passivated devices do not accord with the FPE model.Therefore,a modified FPE model is developed in which an additional leakage current,besides the gate(ⅠⅡ),is added.Based on the samples with different passivations,the ⅠⅡcaused by a large number of surface traps is separated from total gate currents,and is found to be linear with respect to(φB-Vg)0.5.Compared with these from the FPE model,the calculated results from the modified model agree well with the Ig-Vgmeasurements at temperatures ranging from 295 K to 475 K.

The leakage current mechanisms in the Schottky diode with a thin Al layer insertion between Al_(0.245)Ga_(0.755)N/GaN heterostructure and Ni/Au Schottky contact

This paper investigates the behaviour of the reverse-bias leakage current of the Schottky diode with a thin Al inserting layer inserted between Al0.245Ga0.755N/GaN heterostructure and Ni/Au Schottky contact in the temperature range of 25 350℃. It compares with the Schottky diode without Aluminium inserting layer. The experimental results show that in the Schottky diode with Al layer the minimum point of I-V curve drifts to the minus voltage, and with the increase of temperature increasing, the minimum point of I V curve returns the 0 point. The temperature dependence of gate-leakage currents in the novelty diode and the traditional diode are studied. The results show that the Al inserting layer introduces interface states between metal and Al0.245Ga0.755N. Aluminium reacted with oxygen formed Al2O3 insulator layer which suppresses the trap tunnelling current and the trend of thermionic field emission current. The reliability of the diode at the high temperature is improved by inserting a thin Al layer.

Effect of surface treatment of GaN based light emitting diode wafers on the leakage current of light emitting diode devices

To form low-resistance Ohmic contact to p-type GaN, InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well light emitting diode wafers are treated with boiled aqua regia prior to Ni/Au （5 nm/5 nm） film deposition. The surface morphology of wafers and the current voltage characteristics of fabricated light emitting diode devices are investigated. It is shown that surface treatment with boiled aqua regia could effectively remove oxide from the surface of the p-GaN layer, and reveal defect-pits whose density is almost the same as the screw dislocation density estimated by x-ray rocking curve measurement. It suggests that the metal atoms of the Ni/Au transparent electrode of light emitting diode devices may diffuse into the p-GaN layer along threading dislocation lines and form additional leakage current channels. Therefore, the surface treatment time with boiled aqua regia should not be too long so as to avoid the increase of threading dislocation-induced leakage current and the degradation of electrical properties of light emitting diodes.

Remarkable Improvement of Ferroelectric Properties and Leakage Current in BiFeO_3 Thin Films by Nd Modification

Ferroelectric and leakage properties are important for ferroelectric applications. Pure and Nd-doped（x=0.05-0.20） BiFeO3 thin films were fabricated by sol-gel method on FTO substrates. The phase structure, surface morphology, leakage current, ferroelectric properties, and optical properties of BiFeO3-based thin films were investigated. The substitution of Nd^3＋ ions for the Bi^3＋ site converts the structure from rhombohedral to coexisting tetragonal and orthorhombic. Nd doping improves the crystallinity of BiFeO3 thin films. The leakage current of Nd-doped BiFeO3 decreases by two to three orders of magnitude compared with that of pure BiFeO3. Among the samples, 15% Nd-doped BiFeO3 exhibits the strongest ferroelectric polarization of 17.96 μC/cm^2. Furthermore, the absorption edges of Bi1-xNdxFeO3 thin films show a slight red-shift after Nd doping.

Effect of SiN:H_x passivation layer on the reverse gate leakage current in GaN HEMTs

This paper concentrates on the impact of SiN passivation layer deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition（PECVD） on the Schottky characteristics in GaN high electron mobility transistors（HEMTs）. Three types of SiN layers with different deposition conditions were deposited on GaN HEMTs. Atomic force microscope（AFM）, capacitance-voltage（C-V）, and Fourier transform infrared（FTIR） measurement were used to analyze the surface morphology, the electrical characterization, and the chemical bonding of SiN thin films, respectively. The better surface morphology was achieved from the device with lower gate leakage current. The fixed positive charge Qf was extracted from C-V curves of Al/SiN/Si structures and quite different density of trap states（in the order of magnitude of 1011-1012 cm^（-2）） was observed.It was found that the least trap states were in accordance with the lowest gate leakage current. Furthermore, the chemical bonds and the %H in Si-H and N-H were figured from FTIR measurement, demonstrating an increase in the density of Qf with the increasing %H in N-H. It reveals that the effect of SiN passivation can be improved in GaN-based HEMTs by modulating %H in Si-H and N-H, thus achieving a better Schottky characteristics.

Leakage current reduction by thermal oxidation in Ni/Au Schottky contacts on lattice-matched In_(0.18)Al_(0.82)N/GaN heterostructures

By using temperature-dependent current-voltage, variable-frequency capacitance-voltage, and Hall measurements, the effects of the thermal oxidation on the electrical properties of Ni/Au Schottky contacts on lattice-matched Ino.18Alo.82N/GaN heterostructures are investigated. Decrease of the reverse leakage current down to six orders of magni- tude is observed after the thermal oxidation of the Ino.18Alo.82N/GaN heterostructures at 700 ℃. It is confirmed that the reverse leakage current is dominated by the Frenkel-Poole emission, and the main origin of the leakage current is the emis- sion of electrons from a trap state near the metal/semiconductor interface into a continuum of electronic states associated with the conductive dislocations in the InxAll-xN barrier. It is believed that the thermal oxidation results in the formation of a thin oxide layer on the InxAll-xN surface, which increases the electron emission barrier height.