Theoretical analyses of oxide-bypassed superjunction power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor devices

Abstract

The performance merit of silicon unipolar power devices is best described by a trade-off relationship between specific on-state resistance (R on,sp) and breakdown voltage (Vbr), which leads to the establishment of an ideal unipolar limit on device performance. Recently, engineering the electric field in the device drift region to break this unipolar silicon limit for superior performance has become an important research topic. The superjunction (SJ) structure achieves this by paralleling precisely matched higher doping alternate p-n layers to replace the typically low doping drift region. Alternatively, for fabrication simplicity in an oxide-bypassed (OB) structure, an oxide layer of predetermined thickness together with a polycontact is used to replace the p-column of the SJ structure to modulate the electric field. The further improved gradient OB (GOB) structure with slanted oxide sidewalls delivers a performance similar to ideal SJ devices. In this paper, detailed theoretical analyses in closed-form equations on OB and GOB devices are made for the first time to model the performance in various operating regions. The theoretical analyses were also carefully verified through two-dimensional numerical simulations. ©2005 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.