Design of Schottky diode using Silvacom

M. Falah', D. Linton*, J. Williamson

I .

*Schoolof Electrical and Electronic Engineering Queen's University, Belfast Belfast-BT9 5AH, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 28 90 27 4089; Fax: +44 (0) 28 90 667023 e-mail: f.mohammed@ee.qub.ac.uk; d.linton@aub.ac.uk **Solectron Technical Centre 20-22 Edinburgh Way, Harlow, Essex CM20 2DE, UK Phone: +44 (0) 1279 77 2666; Fax: +44 (0)1279 77 5959 e-mail: johnmwilliamson@,solectron.com
Abstruct: The design and optimisation of a delta doped Schottky diode is reported in this paper.

The thickness of each layer, area and the spacing between the Schottky contact and the ohmic contact are optimised using SilvacoTM to give the maximum change in capacitance and the lowest series resistance. A lumped equivalent circuit for the diode is described with an explanation of lumped parameter extraction after the fabrication process. This type of diode will be used for the design of nonlinear transmission lines (NLTLs) for pulse compression applications.

INTRODUCTION

The design of fast fall or rise time NLTLs depends strongly on the characteristics of the Schottky diode. A diode with a highly nonlinear CV profile and low parasitics is required for optimum performance. Diodes with uniform doping profile [I] were used in the design of the NLTL, but with poor performance compared to the hyperabrupt diode [2] or linearly graded (abrupt) diodes [3]. Graded or abrupt junction diodes posses the highest cutoff frequency due to lower spreading resistance while hyperabrupt diodes exhibit larger CV nonlinearity at the expense of higher spreading series resistance [4]. The increase in the series resistance makes the hyperabrupt diodes slower than the linearly graded diodes, since the series resistance limits the diode cd-off frequency. The delta-doped diode, which is a special case from the hyperabrupt diode, will be considered in the design of NLTL for pulse regeneration because of its high nonlinear CV characteristics, even though it has a high series resistance.
An equivalent circuit model for the diode under reverse bias will be derived based on small signal measurements. The model will include diode parasitics, the junction capacitance and the junction conductance.

Simulation using Silvaco TM is used to optimise the diode dimensions, the thickness, and the dopant concentration of each layer in order to optimise the junction capacitance and series resistance.

0-7803-7618-8/02/$17.00 02002 IEEE.

2 MODEL EXTRACTION A general model for the Schottky diode is shown in Fig. 1 as given by [5-S]. The model is composed of the series resistance, the series inductance, the junction capacitance and the junction conductance.

c,
Figure 1 Lumped circuit equivalent model for the Schottky diode.

The equivalent circuit of the diode can be viewed as a n configuration as shown in Fig. 2 where Zsis the dominant impedance.

Figure 2 Lumped element equivalent circuit model assumed for on wafer Schottky diode.

The ABCD parameters of the n configuration are

: [

I+Z,lZ,

~]=[i,z~+1/z,+z,/z~z, /+z,/z, zs

By calculating the ABCD parameters, the mode parameters can be estimated. This technique can be used to characterise the diode after fabrication [lo]. The series impedance of the device is given by

Z , =B (1) The real part of B will give the series resistance while the imaginary part will give both the junction capacitance and the series resistance
R, =Real (B)
w Ls- l/oC, = Imag (B)

(2)
(3)

The series inductance and the junction capacitance can be calculated from equation 3. Measurements at two frequency points are required to solve for the junction capacitance and series inductance. By choosing the lower and higher frequency measured points and substituting them into equation (3), the junction capacitance and the series resistance are found to be 1101.

DIODE DESIGN AND PHYSICAL SLMULATION

The cross section of the delta doped Schottky diode is shown in Fig.3 [4]. The bottom layer (called the substrate layer) is a heavily doped layer with 4x1OZ0.The active layer on top of the substrate layer has a low concentration ( 5 ~ 1 0 ' ~The ) . third layer is also a heavily doped layer, called the delta layer with dopant concentration of 4x10". The final layer is called the buffer layer, which has doping concentration of 5x10i6. The buffer layer will prevent electron tunnelling from the delta layer to the Schottky contact. The doping in each layer can be achieved by using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The MBE offers precise control of doping profile and thickness for nm layers, but it is expensive and complicated compared to ion implantation. Schottky contact

Substrate N+

Figure 3 Cross section of the delta-doped diode.

The presence of the delta layer between the buffer layer and the active layer will give a very sharp change in the CV curye as the reverse voltage increases. On the other hand the presence of this layer will increase the spreading resistance, which decreases the diode cutoff frequency. Two major things influence the capacitance ratio a n d the diode series resistance: 1. Layerthickness 2. The area of the Schottky contact and the spacing between the cathode and the Schottky contact (anode). The capacitance of the diode as given by [9]:

W m is the width of the depletion layer under the Schottky contact as a function voltage, A is the Schottky contact area and E is the substrate permitivity. High capacitance ratios can be attained by choosing proper thickness of each one of the layers

under the Schottky contact. Changing the thickness of these layers will change the series resistance also. The optimum capacitance ratio and optimum series resistance occurs at a buffer layer thickness of 20 nm. Increasing the thickness of this layer will decrease the capacitance ratio but has a very small effect on the series resistance as shown in Fig.4.

14

t c a p c i t a n c e Ratio +Series
I
0
20
40
(Ohm)

Resistance

60

Buffer layer thickness (nm)

Figure 4 Capacitance ratios and the series resistance for different thicknesses of the buffer layer.

The capacitance ratio and the series resistance as a function of delta layer thickness is shown in Fig.5. The optimum capacitance ratio and optimum series resistance occurs at a thickness of 20 nm. Increasing the thichess of this layer increases the capacitance ratio at the expense of increasing the series resistance.

'2

IO

I'

I
~

8 .

1 tCapacitance Ratio I /
+Series
RKiStance

6
4

0
0
100 200

300

400

500

Delta layer thiclmss (nm)

Figure 5 Capacitance ratios and the series resistance for different thicknesses of the delta layer.

Increasing the thickness of the active layer, which comes directly underneath the deltalayer, will increase the maximum change in capacitance and increases the series resistance also as shown in Fig.6

lo

* I

ifppI
d
10
/
I

l+Capacitance

Ratio

2 '

O ! 0

20

30

40

1 50

Active layer thichess (nm)

Figure 6 Capacitance ratios and the series resistance for different thicknesses of the active layer.

The area of the Schottky contact will determine the zero bias junction capacitance and the series resistance. Increasing the diode area will increase the zero bias junction capacitance and decrease the series resistance effectively, but will have no effect on the capacitance ratio. Increasing the separation between the Schottky contact and the ohmic contact will increase the series resistance but has no affect on the capacitance ratio. The presence of the heavily doped layer under the active layer will reduce the series resistance effectively. A layer with one-micron thickness will be sufficient to drop the series resistance effectively.

DISCUSSION

Simulation shows that changing the thickness of each layer under the Schottky contact can increase the capacitance ratio and decrease the series resistance. Changing the thickness of the different layers will maximise the change in the depletion layer width and results in very high nonlinearity in the CV characteristics of the diode. The bulk resistance and the sheet resistance for the diode are given by

Where W m : is the thickness of the depletion layer

cr is the conductivity of the A: is the diode area. Q: is the electron charge p: is the camer mobility R& the distance between the Schottky contact and the ohmic contact. t,,& the substrate thickness. The bulk resistance depends strongly on the width of the depletion layer as reported by Heymann [6]. Because the depletion width changes with bias, the series resistance changes with the bias also. The sheet resistance depends on the mobility and the spacing between the Schottky and the ohmic contact. This dependence explains why decreasing the spacing between the Schottky and the ohmic contact decrease the series resistance. Equation (8) shows that the sheet resistance is inversely proportional to the mobility of the substrate. This explains why the GaAs has lower resistance and higher cutoff frequency compared to silicon devices. The ohmic contact resistance and the substrate resistance are fixed and do not depend on the bias voltage and has fairly low values.

CONCLUSION

The addition of the delta layer in the Schottky diode structure gives a step change in the CV characteristics of the diode. The thickness of each layer was optimised to give the optimum CV ratio and series resistance. The thickness of the layers was found to be as follows: 1. The buffer layer was 20 nm with dopant concentration of 5 ~ 1 0 ~ 2. The delta layer was 20 nm with dopant concentration of 4x101* 3. The active layer was 400 nm with dopant concentration of 5x11)~ 4. One micron for the substrate is sufficient with dopant concentration of 4 ~ 1 0 ~ The area of the diode was optimised to 5x60 p2. The spacing of the diode was reduced to 0.5 pun. A capacitance ratio of 14.0 and a series resistance of 6.12 Q results from such a diode. The zero bias junction capacitance was found to be 600 f F .

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors wish to express their-deep gratitude to Prof. Alastair Armstrong for his deep patience and for providing technical help in using SilvacoTM.Thanks are also due to Prof. Harold Gamble and Dr. Fred Rude11 for @eir useful discussion regarding the explanation for different aspects of the diode design. This project has been supported financially by SolectrodC-MAC.

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