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Influence Of Silicon Defects On The Electrical Behavior Of Semiconductor Power Devices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

H.-J. Schulze  and
B.O. Kolbesen
H.-J. Schulze
Affiliation:
Corporate Technology, Siemens AG, Munich, Germany
B.O. Kolbesen
Affiliation:
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitiit, Frankfurt a. M., Germany
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Abstract

Since power devices require a thick electrically active n-type silicon layer with high resistivity and a large area, their electrical characteristics are extremely sensitive to contamination. If heavy metals diffuse into the silicon wafers during the high-temperature steps, an uncontrolled increase in the leakage current and the on-state voltage can be observed. Furthermore, current filamentation and instabilities of the electrical data can occur. It turned out that the optimization of the cleaning processes, high-temperature steps and gettering treatments alone is not sufficient to avoid such effects. It is also important to avoid silicon crystal defects by proper processing. A dramatic increase in the leakage current was correlated with the appearance of silicon defects decorated with heavy metals. As a consequence of the low doping level of the n-base, the blocking voltage and the failure rate due to cosmic radiation are sensitive to contaminating atoms acting as donors.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 483: Symposium E – Power Semiconductor Materials & Devices , 1997 , 381
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

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