Numerical and experimental investigation of temperature dependence vs. mobility degradation on I–V characteristics in N-LDMOS structure

Abstract

The thermal behavior analysis is undoubtedly the main concern when studying semiconductor devices' and structures' physical mechanics. To the best of our knowledge, simulations studies with an experimental validation of the temperature effect vs. mobility on electrical characteristics in semiconductor devices, specifically in LDMOSFET devices are not well explored in the research literature. Considering this, this paper investigates the thermal influence vs. mobility degradation in the N-LDMOS structure and its impact on electrical performance. It also addresses the temperature impact on channel current Ids and these effects on component performance. The zero-temperature coefficient (ZTC) is evaluated in a N-LDMOS structure using numerical simulations and experimental tests. A study of the drain current behavior at ZTC (IZTC) is proposed in the linear and saturation regions. The influence of temperature mobility degradation on IZTC is analyzed. The consequences of mobility degradation show that the temperature increase gives rise to two contradictory phenomena: firstly, the channel current Ids increases when its value is lower than the current level (IZTC) and secondly, decreases when is higher. These two phenomena are studied by using simulated and experimental approaches, in order to extract and prove the physical aspects near the gate-drain access region (hot spot, electric field, electron concentration, surface carrier density, electron mobility), at the parameter evaluation origin, using SILVACO-TCAD based numerical simulation. Mobility degradation due to the temperature effect is compared to the critical value in N-LDMOS based on I–V behavior obtained with experimentation and simulations. This is explained by the role of negative thermal coefficient in LDMOS transistors. This coefficient proves to be particularly beneficial in terms of mobility gain at low inversion densities.