Fast recovery SOI PiN diode with multiple trenches

Abstract

In this paper, a 500V SOI PiN lateral diode is proposed and investigated by simulations and experiments. The proposed structure features multiple deep-oxide trenches (MDOT) arranged in the silicon region. Two DOTs (T1 and T2) locating in the i-layer help to block the cathode-anode voltage (VCA), allowing the diode to shorten its i-layer length. With a similar breakdown voltage (BV) of 560V, the i-layer length is shortened from 47 μm for the conventional diode to 21.9 μm for the proposed MDOT diode. The shortened i-layer leads to a reduced number of stored carriers in the i-layer. Another DOT (T3) is inserted at the anode region of proposed MDOT diode and shorted with P+ anode. T3 acts as a vertical field plate, reshaping the electric potential distribution at the anode region and accelerating the depletion during the reverse recovery process. Thanks to the decreased number of the stored carriers and the accelerated depletion, the reverse recovery time (trr) of the proposed MDOT diode (211 ns) can be decreased by 56.7% compared with the conventional diode (487 ns) at the forward current density of 400 A/cm2 at T = 300 K. The proposed MDOT diode exhibits a better trade-off between forward voltage drop (VF) and reverse recovery time (trr) than the conventional and other reported diodes.