Materials Science Forum, Vol.457-460, 1045-1048, 2004
Numerical study of current crowding phenomenon in complementary 4H-SiC JBS rectifiers
A new type of power semiconductor device - the Junction Barrier Schottky (JBS) diode-has been introduced recently [1]. Our earlier investigations (e.g. [2, 3]) on current crowding effect at Schottky interfaces due to barrier height differences created an idea to investigate the temperature influence on current crowding phenomenon in complementary JBS diodes. The reason for such investigations results from the structure (cross section) of JBS diode, which has three different regions for the current flow through the device under upper metal contact. The MEDICI software package for numerical simulations has been used [4]. The current distribution along the p- and n-4H-SiC structures under different temperatures, epitaxial layer concentrations and barrier heights (work function) conditions have been investigated and the results are presented. The clear differences in current suppressing behavior around the areas, where the arbitrary pn-junction reaches the upper contact of the structures near the edge of Schottky interface can be seen only in some cases. Our simulations show also the weak sides of the p-epilayer SiC JBS, where the temperature influence changes the normal behavior of the device and rearranges the current distribution under higher temperature and barrier height values.