Mobility Models Based on Forward Current-Voltage Characteristics of P-type Pseudo-Vertical Diamond Schottky Barrier Diodes

Micromachines (Basel). 2020 Jun 18;11(6):598. doi: 10.3390/mi11060598.

Abstract

Compared with silicon and silicon carbide, diamond has superior material parameters and is therefore suitable for power switching devices. Numerical simulation is important for predicting the electric characteristics of diamond devices before fabrication. Here, we present numerical simulations of p-type diamond pseudo-vertical Schottky barrier diodes using various mobility models. The constant mobility model, based on the parameter μconst, fixed the hole mobility absolutely. The analytic mobility model resulted in temperature- and doping concentration-dependent mobility. An improved model, the Lombard concentration, voltage, and temperature (CVT) mobility model, considered electric field-dependent mobility in addition to temperature and doping concentration. The forward voltage drop at 100 A/cm2 using the analytic and Lombard CVT mobility models was 2.86 and 5.17 V at 300 K, respectively. Finally, we used an empirical mobility model based on experimental results from the literature. We also compared the forward voltage drop and breakdown voltage of the devices, according to variations in p- drift layer thickness and cathode length. The device successfully achieved a low specific on-resistance of 6.8 mΩ∙cm2, a high breakdown voltage of 1,190 V, and a high figure-of-merit of 210 MW/cm2.

Keywords: Schottky barrier diode; diamond; forward current; hole mobility; power device.