The present invention relates to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to power devices having high avalanche capability and a process for making them.
Many applications for power semiconductors require fast switching devices having low power dissipation. Anderson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,148, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a high voltage (600-1000 volts or higher), fast damper diode comprising P+, P−, N−, N+ layer wherein the P− and N− layers are of substantially equal thickness, each greater than about 50 μm, and have substantially equal doping density of less than about 1015 atoms/cm3. Lutz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,872, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a fast power diode comprising P+, N−, and N+ doping zones, and recombination centers formed by electron irradiation and platinum diffusion in the N− and N+ zones.
Among the measures of diode performance are the following: rated forward current (IF), forward voltage drop (VF), transient forward recovery time (TFR), transient turn-on peak overshoot voltage (TOPO), diode reverse blocking voltage (BVR), transient reverse recovery time (TRR), and unclamped inductive switching (UIS), which is a measure of the amount of avalanche energy that can be dissipated in the device without destructive failure. BVR and UIS can be increased by increasing the resistivity and/or the thickness of the diode depletion region, but this typically results in also increasing TFR and TOPO. TRR can be lowered by the introduction of recombination centers, but this also generally leads to an increase in VF. TOPO and VF may be reduced and IF increased by increasing the diode area, i.e., die size, but this is undesirable both from the view point of cost and the trend toward reducing device size.
Because the rapid switching of high currents can result in the generation by parasitic inductance of voltage spikes that reach the breakdown voltage of a device, there is an ongoing need for power semiconductor devices in switching applications, for example, where the dissipation of large amounts of avalanche energy without damage is required. The present invention meets this need.
The present invention is directed to a power semiconductor device having high avalanche capability and comprising an N+ doped substrate and, in sequence, N− doped, P− doped, and P+ doped semiconductor layers, the P− and P+ doped layers having a combined thickness of about 5 μm to about 12 μm. Recombination centers comprising noble metal impurities are disposed substantially in the N− and P− doped layers.
The present invention is further directed to a process for forming a power semiconductor device with high avalanche capability that comprises: forming an N− doped epitaxial layer on an N+ doped substrate, forming a P− doped layer in the N− doped epitaxial layer, forming a P+ doped layer in the P− doped layer, and forming in the P− and N− doped layers recombination centers comprising noble metal impurities. The P+ and P− doped layers have a combined thickness of about 5 μm to about 12 μm.
The present invention beneficially provides devices of small die size whose UIS performance is comparable to that of conventional devices of much larger die size.
In
Layers 201 and 202 are formed by dopant implantation and/or diffusion into epitaxial layer 203. Shallow P+ doped layer 201 has a thickness preferably of about 0.1 μm to about 2 μm, and P− doped layer 202 has a thickness preferably of about 4 μm to about 10 μm. P+ doped layer 201 and P− doped layer 202 together have a combined thickness of about 5 μm to about 12 μm. Shallow P+ doped layer 201 has a dopant level preferably of at least 1018 atoms/cm3, more preferably, about 6×1019 atoms/cm3. P− doped layer 202 has a dopant level preferably of at least 1016 atoms/cm3, more preferably, about 2.5×1017 atoms/cm3. A preferred dopant for layers 201 and 202 is boron.
Recombination centers comprising noble metal impurities are introduced into N− doped layer 203 and P− doped layer 202, preferably by diffusion through N+ doped substrate 204. Noble metal impurities are selected from the group consisting of gold, platinum, and palladium, platinum being preferred. Diffusion of platinum is carried out at a temperature of, preferably, about 940° C., resulting in a concentration of platinum in diode 200 of about 1×1015 to about 1×1016 atoms/cm3, preferably about 2×1015 atoms/cm3. Lowering the platinum diffusion temperature from 950° C. to 940° C. reduces the concentration of platinum impurities and improves the avalanche capability of diode 200.
Also included in diode 200 is a heavily N+ doped source region 205, which provides a channel stop for improved reliability, and a field oxide layer 206. As shown in
A heavily arsenic doped N+ substrate on which is formed a phosphorus doped N− epitaxial layer with a thickness of about 21 μm to about 27 μm, preferably about 25 μm, is used to form a series of control devices and devices of the present invention. For the control device series, whose general structure is represented by
The epitaxial wafer used to form the series of control devices is also employed to form a series of devices in accordance with the present invention, whose general structure is represented by
As noted above, unclamped inductive switching (UIS) is a measure of avalanche energy that can be dissipated in a device without causing its destructive failure.
Measurements of VP, TRR, and BVR by standard procedures are made on the series of control devices and devices of the invention, and the results, each the average of measurements on about 2000-5000 devices, depending on die size, are presented in TABLE 1. Similar values of VP and BVR are obtained for all of the devices, both control and of the invention, regardless of die size. The TRR results do vary with die size but, for a given size, the TRR of the device of the invention is practically the same as the control, despite the lower level of platinum in the former, the result of a diffusion temperature 10° C. lower than that employed for the control device. Using a reduced concentration of platinum to achieve low VF values without increasing TRR values is an important advantage, especially for devices having voltages on the order of 200 volts.
TABLE 1 includes the results of UIS measurements carried out on control devices and devices of the present invention. The UIS data presented show the very large improvement in avalanche capability of the devices of the invention compared with those of control devices whose measured properties are otherwise very similar. Thus, the present invention enables the substitution of a much smaller size die to achieve UIS performance comparable to that of a larger conventional die.
The present invention is also applicable to MOSFET and IGBT power devices.
The invention has been described in detail for the purpose of illustration, but it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose, and variations can be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is defined by the claims that follow.
This application is a divisional of prior application Ser. No. 09/654,845, filed Sep. 1, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 09654845 | Sep 2000 | US |
Child | 11972908 | US |