Effects of Electrostatic Discharge Stress on Current-Voltage and Reverse Recovery Time of Fast Power Diode

Fast recovery diodes (FRDs) were developed using the p(++)/n(-)/n(++) epitaxial layers grown by low temperature epitaxy technology. We investigated the effect of electrostatic discharge (ESD) stresses on their electrical and switching properties using current-voltage (I-V) and reverse recovery time analyses. The FRDs presented a high breakdown voltage, >450 V, and a low reverse leakage current, <10(-9) A. From the temperature dependence of thermal activation energy, the reverse leakage current was dominated by thermal generation-recombination and diffusion, respectively, at low and high temperature regions. By virtue of the abrupt junction and the Pt drive-in for the controlling of carrier lifetime, the soft reverse recovery behavior could be obtained along with a well-controlled reverse recovery time of 21.12 ns. The FRDs exhibited excellent ESD robustness with negligible degradations in the I-V and the reverse recovery characteristics up to +/- 5.5 kV of HBM and +/- 3.5 kV of IEC61000-4-2 shocks. Likewise, transmission line pulse (TLP) analysis reveals that the FRDs can handle the maximum peak pulse current, I-pp,I- max, up to 30 A in the forward mode and down to - 24 A in the reverse mode. The robust ESD property can improve the long term reliability of various power applications such as automobile and switching mode power supply.