SIMS study of a Semiconductor Opening Switch diode
Résumé
Pulsed power generators based on Semiconductor Opening Switch (SOS) diodes produce nanosecond high-voltage pulses [1]. The SOS diode operation relies on conducting a forward current followed by a reverse current that is ultimately interrupted to generate voltage pulses. Such SOS generators, often involving all solid-state components, exhibit high peak power, high pulse repetition frequency and long lifetime. As a result, they are implemented in industrial pulsed power applications using radiation, plasma, particle beam, and laser technologies. Although SOS diodes are relevant to many applications, the production of these switches are not wide with only a few manufacturers worldwide. Therefore, the development of pulsed power applications based on SOS technology is hindered.
The limited availability of SOS diodes draws interest in off-the-shelf diodes [2]. However,
for many diodes, the doping profile is not disclosed by the manufacturer preventing a
thorough understanding of their switching mechanism. An approach is to analyse the diode doping profile by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). To validate this SIMS approach, a slice of SOS diode specimen presenting mirror-like surface (see in figure 1) is studied. It is composed of a set of four identical silicon dies connected in series and sandwiched between anode and cathode metals. The theoretical doping profile of the die (~400 μm thick) presents boron, aluminium and phosphorus doping and is given in literature [3].
In this work, we report SIMS of the sliced SOS diode to get the real dopant profiles in the silicon matrix through the 4 dies. For that purpose, we performed line-scans from one side to the other of the SOS diode. A perfect matching of the theoretical and SIMS dopant profiles (11B, 27Al and 31P) leads to the adoption of the SIMS approach to investigate future diodes.
References
[1] S.N. Rukin, Review of Scientific Instruments 91, 011501 (2020)
[2] M. R. Degnon et al., IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 50 (10) 3384 (2022)
[3] S.A. Darznek et al. Technical Physics 45 (4) 436 (2000)
Domaines
Physique [physics]Origine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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