P-n diode performance limitations

P-n diode I-V

V
Vto

Vto 0.7 V; Iforw up to 100 A, Vrev up to 1000V

The turn-on voltage is relatively high (>0.7 V)

Switching processes in p-n diodes are relatively slow

When a square wave voltage is
applied to a p-n diode, it is
forward biased duirng one halfcycle and reverse biased during
the next half-cycle
Under forward bias, the current is

Vd
Vs

R
I

Vs

forward

Vs Vd
R
reverse

Under reverse bias, the current

is almost equal to zero

Using regular p-n diodes, this pulsed current waveform can

only be obtained with low frequency pulses

Switching processes in p-n diodes (cont.)

However, if the pulse frequency is
high the reverse current shows
significant increase

Vs

Vd
Vs

ideal

R
t

practical

Real p-n diode transient at high

frequency

High frequency

Charge storage and Diode transients

Ln

Lp

Recall the injected carrier

distribution at forward bias

-xp

xn

-xp

xn

At reverse bias the

steady- state minority
carrier concentration is
very low.
But not immediately
after switching from the
forward bias!

Schottky Diodes
Schottky diode has low forward
voltage drop and very fast
switching speed.
Schottky diode consists of a
metal - semiconductor
junction. There is no p-n
junction in Schottky diode.

In 1938, Walter
Schottky
formulated
a
theory predicting
the
Schottky
effect.

In Schottky diode, there is no

minority carrier injection

metal

semiconductor

Band diagrams of p-n and Schottky diodes

In Schottky diode, the depletion region occurs only in the
semiconductor region as metal has extremely high electron
(hole) concentration.
EC

EF

EC

EF

EV

EV

metal

Schottky Barrier Formation

Work
function
():
Energy
difference
between Fermi level
and vacuum level. It is a
minimum
energy
needed to remove an
electron from a solid.

Vaccum level (outside the solid)

EC

EV

Vaccum level (outside the solid)

Electron
Affinity
(Xs):
Energy
difference
between the conduction
band edge and the
vacuum level.

X
EC

EV

continuedSchottky Barrier Formation

Metal n-type semiconductor before contact
Vacuum level (outside the solid)

In metals, the
conductance band edge
EC and the valence band
Ev are the same (both at
EF level)

Xs

EC
EFs

EFm

EV

metal

semiconductor

continuedSchottky Barrier Formation

After Contact (with n- type material):
Vacuum level (outside the solid)

Xs

s
EC
EF

EV

Schottky
barrier for
electrons

metal

semiconductor

continuedSchottky Barrier Formation

Before contact (with p-type material):
Vacuum level (outside the solid)

Xs

EC

EFs

EFm

EV

metal

semiconductor

10

continuedSchottky Barrier Formation

After contact (with p-type material):
Xs

Vacuum level (outside the solid)

EC

EFs
EV

Schottky
barrier for
holes

metal

semiconductor

11

Schottky diode characteristics

Using energy voltage relationships:
m= q m and Xs = q s , we can find:

metal

semiconductor

The Schottky barrier height at equilibrium,

b = m s
The built-in voltage, Vbi

qm
qs qs

The depletion region charge density,

Vbi = m s

qVbi

qbo

EF

= qN d
Note: there is no depletion region in metal

EV

The depletion region width,

xn =

2 0 Vbi
qN d

EC

xn

12

Schottky diode under bias

VR
metal

VF

N type

metal

N type

q(Vbi+VR)

EF

xn
Reverse bias

N type

q(Vbi-VF)

qVbi

EC

EV

metal

xn

Equilibrium

EC

EC

EF

EF

EV

EV
xn
Forward bias
13

Schottky diode current

Schottky diode has the same type of current - voltage
dependence as a p-n diode:

I SCH

qV
= I S exp
kT

However, important difference is that in

Schottky diodes, the current is NOT
associated with electron and hole
ACCUMULATION (injection, diffusion and
recombination) as in p-n diodes.

q(Vbi-V)
EC
EF

EV

The current flow mechanism in Schottky diodes is a thermionic emission.

The thermionic emission is the process of electron transfer OVER the
Schottky barrier
14

continuedSchottky diode current

The saturation current parameter Is in Schottky
diodes depends on the Schottky barrier height:
qb
I s = A T exp
kBT
*

A is the diode area.

A* is the Richardsons constant:
* 2
4

qm
*
nk
A =
h3

where mn is the electron effective mass, h is the

Planck constant and k is the Boltzmann constant.
15

Microwave Schottky diodes

HSCH-9161 Millimeter Wave GaAs Schottky Diode (Agilent)

16

Ohmic contacts
+
p-type

n-type

Any semiconductor device has to be connected to external wires in

order to form an electronic circuit in combination with other circuit
elements.
In the case of a p-n diode, for example, contacts have to be provided to
both p-type and n-type regions of the device in order to connect the
17
diode to an external circuit.

Ohmic contacts
Ohmic contacts must be as low-resistive as
possible, so that the current flowing through
a semiconductor device leads to the
smallest parasitic voltage drop.

Ohmic
contact

qV

1
xp
kT

In good Ohmic contacts, the voltage drop

that occurs across the contact must be low
and proportional to the current (so that the
contacts do not introduce any nonlinearities).
Since such contact I-Vs follow the Ohm's
law, they are usually called ohmic contacts.

IS

p-n junction

Ohmic contacts to semiconductors are often

made using Schottky contacts
18

Rectifying Schottky contacts

n-type semiconductor

n-type

m > s

metal

semiconductor

Rectifying Schottky contact creates an electron depletion

region at the metal-semiconductor interface

19

Rectifying Schottky contacts

p-type semiconductor
p-type

m< s

metal

semiconductor

Rectifying Schottky contact creates a hole depletion region at

the metal-semiconductor interface

20

Non - rectifying Schottky contacts

Schottky contacts
(Rectifying contacts)

Criteria:
n-type
m> s
p-type
m< s

Ohmic Contacts
(Non-rectifying contacts)

Criteria:
n-type
m< s
p-type
m> s

21

Non - rectifying Schottky contacts

Ohmic Contact to
n-type semiconductor
m< s

Majority carriers are electrons;

there is no potential barrier for
electrons in both forward or
reverse directions:

Non-rectifying Schottky contact creates an electron accumulation region

at the metal-semiconductor interface.
The electron concentration in the contact region is higher than that in the
22
bulk. The resistance of the contact region is low.

Non - rectifying Schottky contacts

Ohmic Contact to
p-type semiconductor
m> s

Majority carriers are holes; there

is no potential barrier for holes in
both forward or reverse
directions:

Non-rectifying Schottky contact creates a hole accumulation region at the

metal-semiconductor interface.
The hole concentration in the contact region is higher than that in the
23
bulk. The resistance of the contact region is low.

Ohmic Contact under bias

Ohmic contact to
n-type semiconductor

EC
EF
EV

Positive bias at metal

Negative bias at metal

V
metal

N type

V
metal

N type

EC
EF
EC

EV

No barrier, so
almost no contact
voltage drop

EF

The voltage is
evenly distributed
in the bulk

EV

Electron reservoir at the

interface

24

continuedOhmic Contact under bias

Ohmic contact to
p-type semiconductor

EC
EF
EV

Negative bias at metal

Positive bias at metal

V
metal

metal

N type

N type

EC

EC

EF

EF

EV

EV

Hole reservoir at the interface

25

Tunneling Schottky contacts

Issue:
Not for all semiconductors, it is possible to find the metal with m > s
If the condition m > s is not met, the Schottky contact creates a depletion region
at the Metal Semiconductor interface.
Solution: heavily doped semiconductor

Depletion region width = W

EC

EF

EC

EF

1
W~
ND

W
Low-doped material
large W

EV

+
-

EV

Highly-doped material
small W

Metal - n-type contact example

Schottky contact to a heavily doped semiconductor creates a
tunneling contact with very low effective resistance.

26

Tunneling Schottky contacts

for high voltage devices:
only sub-contact regions are heavily doped

Top metal contact

p+ -type material (heavily doped)

n-type material; ND and dn are chosen to provide the required

operating voltage

dp

dn

n+ sub-contact layer

Bottom metal contact

27

Sub-contact doping by annealing

During high-temperature annealing, metal atoms diffuse into
semiconductor and create donor impurities. The contact material
needs to be properly chosen to create donor (acceptor in p-materials)
type of impurities.
Top metal contact
p+ -type material (heavily doped)

n-type material; ND and dn are chosen to provide the required

operating voltage

dp

dn

n+ annealed region

Bottom metal contact

28

The contact resistance

A quantitative measure of the contact quality is the specific contact
resistance, c, which is the contact resistance per unit contact area.
sandwich type
devices
also called vertical
geometry devices
The contact resistance of each contact in a sandwich-type structure
(VERTICAL structure):
RCV=CV/A,
where A is the contact area. CV is specific contact resistance for vertical
structures:
[CV] = cm2
Typical current densities in sandwich type devices can be as high as
104 A/cm2. Hence, the specific contact resistance of 10-5 cm2 is needed
to maintain a voltage drop on the order of 0.1 V.
29

Contact resistance of planar structures

W

active layer

Planar,
or lateral geometry
device structure

substrate (device holder)

Current
In planar structures, contact resistance is inversely proportional to the contact width
W but no longer proportional to the total contact area.
The current density is larger near the contact edge.
The contact resistance of planar structures is typically given by the contact
resistance per unit width, Rc1.
The lateral contact resistance RC and unit-width contact resistance RC1 are
related as:

Rc1
RC =
W

30

Sheet (per square) resistance of thin films

L
W

The resistance R of a thin semiconductor film between the two contacts,

L
R=
tW

For thin films, commonly used thin film characteristic is so called

resistance per square or sheet resistance:

Rsq =

L
R = R sq
W

When L = W, > R = Rsq

31

Transmission Line Model (TLM)

method to determining contact resistance
L=1m

2m

3m
W
t

Resistance Rn,n+1 between two adjacent contacts in the TLM pattern,

R n ,n +1 = 2R c + R sq

L n ,n +1
W

Where Ln,n+1 is the distance between the contacts number n and n+1,
Rsq is the resistance of the semiconductor film per square,
32

From the Y axis intercept we

can find the value of RC.
From the slope of R (L) plot we
can find the film resistance per
square:

L
R = Rsq
W

Resistance ()

Transmission Line Model (TLM) plot

R
L

2Rc

Distance between
contact pads L (m)
33