SiC lateral Schottky diode technology for integrated smart power converter Jean-François Mogniotte, Christophe Raynaud, Mihai Lazar, Bruno Allard, Dominique Planson To cite this version: Jean-François Mogniotte, Christophe Raynaud, Mihai Lazar, Bruno Allard, Dominique Planson. SiC lateral Schottky diode technology for integrated smart power converter. 2018 IEEE ICIT, Feb 2018, Lyon, France. 10.1109/ICIT.2018.8352287. hal-01864545 HAL Id: hal-01864545 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01864545 Submitted on 9 May 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. SiC lateral Schottky diode technology for integrated smart power converter J. F. MOGNIOTTE C. RAYNAUD, M. LAZAR, B. ALLARD, D. Université de Lyon INSA-Lyon, ESTA School of business PLANSON and Technology, CNRS, AMPERE, UMR 5005 Université de Lyon INSA-Lyon, CNRS, AMPERE, F-69621, Villeurbanne, France UMR 5005 [email protected] F-69621, Villeurbanne, France Abstract— Ampere laboratory develops a technology of been characterized with a breakdown voltage of 1200 V and a lateral power integrated circuit in Silicon Carbide (SiC). The Ron of 4 mΩ/cm2. The ref [3] presents a PN diode with a purpose is to establish integrated power converter with its driver, breakdown voltage of 400 V. A lateral diode based electrostatic which can operate in harsh environment. The technology is discharge (ESD) have been designed for the protection of the namely consisted by lateral MESFETs and lateral diodes. This circuit in silicon-on-insulator (SOI). This device has paper presents two types of manufactured diodes: rectifier respectively operated until 300 °C with a leakage current of 25 Schottky diode and power Schottky diode. pA for an active area of 700 µm2 [4]. The state-of-art presents some lateral diode in SiC but this type of device for integrated Keywords: SiC, Schottky diode, electrical characteristics, power power system is still not widespread. This paper will present converter the physical description and the electrical features for two typical diodes of the IC-SiC technology: the Schottky diode I. INTRODUCTION rectifier and the power Schottky diode. The needs of an electronic, which can operate in harsh environments is increased specially for applies as drilling, electrical vehicle, electrical aircraft, space probe… For answering of this problematic, AMPERE lab with the collaboration with the National Center of Electronic of Barcelona have considered the development of an integrated circuit technology in Silicon Carbide (SiC). The property of this material (SiC) allows to surpass the physical limits of the current solutions (working in high temperature, improving of the electrical yield thanks to the decrease of the electrical losses, increasing of the working frequency, weight reduction…). The purpose of this working is to develop a technology for integrated power converter dedicated to the Fig. 1. Electrical schematic of the considered AC/DC demonstrator with a harsh environments. The considered demonstrator is presented full bridge rectifier and a boost converter. in Fig.1. It is an AC/DC converter with a full bridge rectifier for the first stage and a boost topology for the stage of the power converter. The driver would be integrated on the same II. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS SiC cheap than the power devices M1 (power MESFET) and D1 (power diode). The diodes of the full bridge rectifier (D2, A. Measuring equipment D3, D4 and D5) will be too integrated on the same substrate The devices have been manufactured by the National than the previous devices. The passives devices (resistor, Center of Microelectronics of Barcelona on a SiC wafer, whose inductor and capacitor) will be discrete components. The the size is 3 inches. A semi-automatic probe station (Fig. 2) developed integrated circuit SiC technology is in majority associated to a Keysight B1505 analyser have been used for consisted by lateral transistors (MESFETS) with many current performed the electrical measures of the lateral Schottky SiC calibers (signal, buffer and power), which have been previously diodes. The electrical characterizations of the Schottky diodes presented in Ref [1], but also by lateral diodes. These diodes have been made in forward conduction in first time and in have specific internal function in the considered power systems reverse conduction in second time with the described (rectifier, power transmission, electrical protection…). The equipment. research is mainly on the vertical devices for especially the properties of the breakdown voltage and the power density. However, some lateral in SiC have been designed and manufactured. In [2], a RESURF Schotkky 3C-SiC on Si have A @ 1 V. It is represented a power density of 4.28 mA/mm. The power diode will have a width junction of 660 mm. The extracted internal potential Vdi will be compared to the theoretical internal potential Vdi of the diode. It would not exactly the same value because a simplified model is used for the extraction of the features. However, the values will be normally very close. The theoretical value of the internal potential is determined from (3). (3) Fig. 2. Semi-automactic probe-station with 3 micromanipulators qV.di q .( E g S M ) B. Equivalent model of the diode and extracted parameters with: Eg: Bandgap (eV), Vdi : Internal potential (V), ΦS: Semi- conductor work (eV), ΦM: Metal work (eV), q: Electron charge (C) The sizing of the diodes is established on a simplified model of the diode (Fig. 3, left). The model is constituted by From [7], the metal work ΦM of the nickel is 5.4 eV. For Vdi (internal potential) and Rs (state-on résistance) in series. the SiC, ΦS = 3.0 (eV) and Eg = 3.2 (eV) [8]. In replacing these values in the equation (3), Vdi is equal to 0.8 V. It is a coherent value for a Schottky diode in SiC according to B. Baliga [9]. III. SCHOTTKY DIODE RECITFIER A. Description of the lateral Schottky diode The lateral Schottky diode has been designed for being a rectifier diode with a width junction of 3.34 mm. This type of diode will be used for the full-bridge rectifier of the AC/DC converter, which has been presented on the Fig. 1 (D2, D3, D4 Fig. 3. Left: Equivalent model of the Schottky diode used for the sizing of and D5). Two contact electrodes constitute the lateral diode: the diodes. Right: Simplified ohmic behavior for a diode in forward the anode (A) and the cathode (K). The cathode contact is the conduction (I=f(VAK)). ohmic contact. It is based on a semi-conductor of type N. The anode is the Schottky contact. This contact is based on a nickel VVRIdi d' S. d (1) metallization. A cross view of the device is presented on the Fig. 4. The thickness of the layer N is 0.5 µm (hn) and the VV thickness of the layer P is 5 µm (hp). The junction length is 10 R d' di (2) µm (Lj). The boxes P+ have the role to isolate the lateral diodes S between them and the semi-insulating substrate the devices Id from the backside of the SiC wafer. The diode have an area of The simplified model is described in the equations (1) and 0.27 mm2. The Fig. 5 presents the top view of one (2). The parameters V and R will be extracted from this di S manufactured diode. model (Fig.3, right). The extraction of these parameters is based on the empirical methodology proposed by P. Antognetti and G. Massabrio [5]. For the analysis of the diodes, three parameters will be extracted from the electrical measures and the equations (1) and (2). It is the internal potential Vdi, the state-on resistance by unit of length (RS/l) and the leakage current. The extracted parameters will have approximate values compared to the theory. This is not disturbing for the analysis because the purpose is to compare the manufactured devices between them with the same criteria. C. Theoretical values and sizing of the Schottky diodes The diodes have been sized according to the considered Fig. 4. Cross view of the lateal Schottky Diode. A and K represent the anode power converter. The sizing of the demonstrator has been and the cathode. hn is the thickess of the layer N. hp is the thicknes of the layer presented at [6]. The power diode must have a current of 2.85 P. Lj is the lenght of the juntion. C. Analasysis of the experimental measures The experimental measures indicate that the device has the typical behavior of a Schottky diode. The current is passing in forward conduction for an internal potential Vdi of 0.8 V, a forward current of 8 mA @ 1 V. The extracted value is very close than the theoretical value, which has been calculated in Fig. 5. Top view of one manufactured diode with a width junction of 3.34 the part II (0.8 V). In reverse conduction, the current is mm and a length junction of 10 µm. blocked. The diode can hold a voltage until 310 V with a leakage current of 3 µA/mm. Beyond this voltage value, the B. Electrical characterizations leakage current becomes too important and can reach a value of 0.3 mA/mm @ 354 V. The experimental measures have been performed on 72 diodes.