ESD improvement in P-i-N diode through introducing a lighter and deeper anode junction

Abstract

Continuous and aggressive miniaturization in the electronic gadget size poses a challenge in solving Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) reliability performance. For diode devices, the shrinkage of the size leads to severe electrical field crowding effect which can cause a total device failure under high ESD surge. Therefore, in this paper, we present a better ESD performance characteristic which can be achieved by optimizing the profile of the P+ anode junction of P-i-N diode. The characteristics profile can be altered by lowering the dopant concentration and increasing the depth of the P-i-N diode junction. In this work, comprehensive device simulations, followed by simulation result validation at the wafer level were performed. The ESD surge test was performed and results showed that the changes of the P+ anode junction profile on the P-i-N power switching diode can achieve the sustainability of 1 kV ESD surge in the Human Body Model (HBM) and more than 400 V ESD surge in the Machine Model (MM).