Edge termination structure
US5949124A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 9, 1997 |
| Grant date | Sep 7, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 9, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01L2924/0002
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An edge termination structure is created by forming trench structures (14) near a PN junction. The presence of the trench structures (14) extends a depletion region (13) between a doped region (12) and a body of semiconductor material or a semiconductor substrate (11) of the opposite conductivity type away from the doped region (12). This in turn forces junction breakdown to occur in the semiconductor bulk, leading to enhancement of the breakdown voltage of a semiconductor device (10). A surface of the trench structures (14) is covered with a conductive layer (16) which keeps the surface of the trench structures (14) at an equal voltage potential. This creates an equipotential surface across each of the trench structures (14) and forces the depletion region to extend laterally along the surface of semiconductor substrate (11). The conductive layers (16) are electrically isolated from an electrical contact (17) which contacts the doped region (12) and from the conductive layers (16) of neighboring trench structures (14).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.