Counter-Doped SiC JTE Structure for High Breakdown Voltage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current semiconductor structures, such as silicon-carbide products, face challenges in achieving high breakdown voltages due to limitations in charge concentration and distribution at edge terminations, particularly with P-type JTE areas and guard rings, which affect their high-voltage operation capabilities.
Innovation Solution
A counter-doped semiconductor structure is introduced, featuring a substrate with an epitaxial layer and multiple JTE areas with varying doses of semiconductor materials, including counter-doped areas that adjust the semiconductor material doses to enhance charge distribution and breakdown voltage, thereby improving the semiconductor's high-voltage performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If P-type JTE area and guard ring structures are used in silicon-carbide products, then edge termination functionality is provided, but breakdown voltage and high-voltage operation capabilities are limited due to constraints in charge concentration and distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The JTE area is divided into multiple discrete P-type doped regions arranged in a specific pattern, rather than using a continuous or single-area structure. This segmentation allows for optimized charge distribution across the edge termination region, improving breakdown voltage by creating more uniform electric field distribution while maintaining manageable structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the edge termination are doped with different concentrations of P-type semiconductor material. The dose of the second conducting type of semiconductor material in the first JTE area is lower than that in the second JTE area, creating local variations in charge concentration that optimize the electric field distribution and enhance breakdown voltage at critical locations
2Reliability
If the dose of semiconductor material in JTE area is increased to improve charge concentration, then breakdown voltage may improve, but the range of dose variations is limited and high-voltage operation capabilities are still constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The invention employs a multi-parameter approach by varying both the spatial distribution and concentration levels of P-type doping across different JTE regions. By creating a gradient of dose levels (lower dose in first JTE area, higher dose in second JTE area) and adjusting the pitch between doped regions, the structure achieves enhanced breakdown voltage while expanding the effective dose variation range beyond what single-parameter approaches can provide
Data Source
AI summary
A semiconductor structure comprises a substrate, an epitaxial layer, an active area and a termination. The substrate has a first conducting type of semiconductor material. The epitaxial layer disposed on the substrate has a first conducting type of semiconductor material. The active area is a working area of the semiconductor structure. The termination protects the active area. The termination has a junction termination extension (JTE) having a second conducting type of semiconductor material. The counter-doped area is disposed in the JTE area and has the first conducting type of semiconductor material. A dose of the first conducting type of semiconductor material in the counter-doped area increases along one direction.