High-Performance Normally Normally-off 2DHG Diamond MOSFET for High Voltage Switching Application
概要
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the development of semiconductor technology has been at par with the development of modern science and technology. Semiconductors are used in various fields of modern science and technology, such as aerospace, supercomputers, and power conversion systems. Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors (SiC, GaN, etc.) have been widely studied and applied as second-generation semiconductors because of their excellent physical properties and capability to exceed the theoretical limit of Si. In addition, semiconductor materials with bandgap significantly wider than 3.4 electron volts (eV) called ultra-WBG semiconductors (UWBG) are also being widely studied. The physical properties of these UWBG semiconductor materials (such as diamond, Ga2O3, AIN) exceed the theoretical limit of Si, and they have higher dielectric strength and better thermal conductivity, which reduce the power loss caused by switching of semiconductor power devices in high-voltage and high-frequency environments.
Chapter 1. This chapter begins with an overview of WBG semiconductor materials and their applications in power devices. The SiC high-voltage power devices and GaN-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) n-type devices and their circuit applications are also introduced in this chapter. However, these materials are very difficult to be utilized as p-type devices. Diamond, owing to its unique physical and electrical properties and a bandgap of 5.5 eV, has become the most promising new generation semiconductor material for p-type power devices, as compared to SiC and GaN. The diamond surface exhibits negative electron affinity (NEA) by hydrogen-termination. Thus, the C–H diamond surface is an NEA of about 1.3 eV; hence, diamonds with hydrogen-terminated bonds exhibit unique surface conductivity. Energy band bending caused by negative charge adsorption on the C-H suface induce two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) under the diamond surface, and the C–H diamond exhibits very high p-type conductivity.
The C–H diamond metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) is achieved with the C–H diamond surface being utilized as a surface conductive channel, which can induce the 2DHG in the bulk diamond and facilitate the formation of the p-type channel. However, the surface conducting layer is affected by the temperature of the environment; therefore, a passivating layer is needed to stabilize the adsorbates and surface C–H bonds, which is important for the temperature stability of the 2DHG. A C–H diamond MOSFET is fabricated with a high-temperature (450 °C) using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) Al2O3 passivating film and H2O as an oxidizing agent. As a result, the C–H diamond MOSFET becomes capable of operating in a wide range of temperatures and has a high breakdown voltage. Because of the low interface states density (<1012 eV-1 cm-2) of the C–H diamond and the independent crystallographic orientations of the 2DHG, a high drain current density vertical-type diamond MOSFET can be manufactured with the help of a diamond RF power device, which has high power density and low ON resistance.
However, the C–H diamond MOSFETs operates in the normally ON state due to the spontaneous polarization effect of the C–H dipoles, and the existence of a fixed negative charge in the alumina insulating film intensifies this polarization, and the hole normally induced on the C–H diamond surface. A normally-off diamond power device has become a key topic for research in the diamond-based devices field. The 2DHG diamond achieves a normally-off operation through surface modification, thus destroying or reducing the C–H surface and adjusting and controlling the quantity and type of fixed charge in the insulating film.
In summary, achieving high-performance, normally-off 2DHG diamond MOSFETs is very important for diamond devices that operate as high-performance power devices in electric power conversion systems having semiconductor integrated circuits, such as a high voltage complementary switching circuit.
Chapter 2 In this chapter, a high drain current C–H diamond MOSFET is fabricated by increasing the gate width (WG) of the MOSFETs. In the experiment, lateral-type C–H diamond MOSFETs with WG ranging from 25 μm to 500 μm and vertical-type C–H diamond MOSFETs with WG ranging from 0.125 mm to 10 mm were fabricated. In the fabrication process of the lateral-type C–H diamond MOSFETs, the Ti/Pt/Au required for the source/drain electrode was formed on an n-doped (100) diamond substrate with an undoped homoepitaxial growth diamond layer. The C–H channel and TiC were formed under high temperature conditions and in an atmosphere of hydrogen and hydrogen plasma, respectively. A 200-nm (ALD) Al2O3 passivating film was formed, and the process of MOSFET fabrication was completed after the Al gate deposition.
To further expand the gate width WG of diamond MOSFETs, vertical-type MOSFETs with multi-trench structures were fabricated on IIb (100) p+ diamond substrates. A nitrogen-doped layer was constructed through the MVPCVD to prevent leakage of current, and multiple trench structures were etched on the substrate of the vertical channel source electrode (Au/Pt/Ti: 20/30/200 nm). Consequently, a multi-finger structure was formed around the trench. After the hydrogen termination and annealing, a 200 nm Al2O3 layer was formed on the top, and a Ti/Au drain electrode (10/250 nm) was formed on the backside of the p+ diamond substrate. Finally, a 100-nm Al film was used to fabricate the overlapped-gate electrode.
As a result, it was observed that the maximum value of IDS for lateral-type C–H diamond MOSFETs is −50 mA with WG = 500 μm, while for vertical-type C–H diamond MOSFETs, the maximum value of IDS is −185 mA with WG = 5 mm. The maximum output current of the diamond MOSFET is enhanced by increasing the gate width.
Chapter 3 In Chapter 2, the fabrication process and characteristic analysis of high-current diamond MOSFETs are described. However, all MOSFETs usually operate in the normally-on condition. We use the cascode structure to shift the threshold voltage VTH of the diamond MOSFET to normally-off. The diamond cascode was fabricated by combining a normally OFF silicon p-MOSFET with low breakdown voltage and a normally-on C–H diamond MOSFET with high breakdown voltage.
The diamond cascode is composed of lateral- and vertical-type C–H diamond MOSFETs having an enlarged gate width achieved during the normally-off operation. The VGD–IDS characteristic shows that the threshold voltage of the diamond cascode is normally-off at VTH = −1 V, and the breakdown voltage of the diamond cascode combined with the lateral-type C–H diamond MOSFET with LGD = 25 μm reaches −1735 V when VGS = 0 V (a true normally-off voltage blocking condition). In this study, the gate of the diamond MOSFET is effectively controlled by the silicon p-MOSFET, which causes the diamond p-channel cascode to exhibit a normally-off operation and breakdown performance.
The diamond cascode is utilized in the upper branch of a half-bridge inverter as a p-channel normally-off power device, while a normally-off GaN n-FET by cascode circuit is utilized in the lower branch. The gate driver inverter is based on a push-pull circuit, which consists of a Si n-MOSFET (upper branch) and a Si p-MOSFET (lower branch) to drive the diamond–GaN half-bridge inverter in high operation voltage. Both the half-bridge inverter and the gate driver inverter are under the same drain power voltage (VDD). The output voltage of the gate driver inverter is fed to the diamond–GaN half-bridge inverter as the input gate voltage through resistors connected in series with the drains.
The results show that the diamond–GaN half-bridge complementary inverter at 1000 Hz under high-voltage conditions (200 and 150 V) is realized using a two-stage circuit structure. The switching speed became faster after utilizing the diamond MOSFETs with larger gate widths (fabricated in Chapter 2). TON = 1.4 μs obtained with WG = 5 mm for the vertical-type diamond MOSFET in the upper branch is approximately 4 times faster compared to that obtained with WG = 500 μm for lateral-type diamond MOSFET.
In Chapter 4, a new comcept to fabricate a high-performance normally-off diamond MOSFET is presented by utilizing the C–Si-bonded diamond surface formation as a two-dimensional layer channel for p-type diamond MOSFETs. The C–Si bonded diamond surface is formed at a high temperature in a reducing gas atmosphere on the SiO2/diamond interface during boron doping diamond selective growth through SiO2 masking. Above 3 monolayers, C–Si bonding on the diamond surface is confirmed through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at the C1s and Si2p core levels from 290 eV–271 eV and 107 eV–95 eV, respectively. In addition, secondary ion mass spectroscopy results suggest that it is not the C–H bonds, but the C–Si bonds at the interface, which are mainly responsible for the FET operation. 2DHG C–Si diamond MOSFETs are fabricated using the C–Si diamond surface as a p-channel. MOSFETs with LSD in the range of 6–12 μm exhibit appreciable field-effect mobility (140 cm2V-1s-1 at LSD =12 μm and 300 K) and normally-off operation at the same time. The wide temperature characteristics of the C–Si MOSFET were confirmed. The performance of the MOSFET is enhanced as the temperature increases, owing to the boron-doped selectively grown diamond in the source and drain electrodes, and the device shows great stability with a high on/off ratio of 106, which is maintained at 673 K. The C-–Si MOSFET shows excellent temperature stability and a normally-off operation.
Finally, a C-Si diamond MOSFET with a thinner SiO2 insulating film and without the Al2O3 film was fabricated and tested. These devices show high mobility with the normally-off operation, and the high-speed complementary switching circuit is realized by combining the normally-off C–Si diamond p-MOSFET and the normally OFF Si-n MOSFET.
Chapter 5 is the summary of this doctoral thesis, where we mainly discuss the manufacturing method and working mechanism of the high-performance normally-off 2DHG diamond MOSFET. Diamond MOSFETs show great potential for application in electronic circuits and power conversion systems.