Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor
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This paper presents the design and simulation of a low voltage Si LDMOS transistor using ATLAS SILVACO. The proposed LDMOS structure has a channel length of 0.3 μm and gate length of 0.75 μm, smaller than the reference device. Simulations show the new device has higher breakdown voltage of 13.75 V and lower on resistance compared to the reference LDMOS. Impact ionization occurs away from the drain in the drift region, allowing for the higher breakdown voltage. The feedback capacitance is also reduced compared to the reference device. In summary, the proposed lower voltage LDMOS transistor has a more compact size while improving key characteristics like breakdown voltage and on resistance.
![International Journal of Latest Research in Engineering and Technology (IJLRET)
ISSN: 2454-5031(Online)
www.ijlret.comǁ Volume 1 Issue 3ǁAugust 2015 ǁ PP 65-69
www.ijlret.com 65 | Page
Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor
Suman Chahar, G.M.Rather
Department of Electronics and communication, National Institute of Technology
Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India
ABSTRACT : This paper presents a compact model of lateral double diffused MOS (LDMOS) transistor
having small size and got good result with different characteristics. This model is designed with ATLAS
SILVACO and get better simulations of breakdown voltage, on resistance etc. comparing with reference
LDMOS. We have designed this device with channel 0.3 µm length and gate 0.75 µm length.
KEYWORDS - ATLAS, Breakdown Voltage, Capacitance, LDMOS, On Resistance.
I. INTRODUCTION
Lateral double diffused MOS (LDMOS) transistors are mostly used in high voltage and RF applications.
These applications include high breakdown voltage, low on resistance and compatibility with standard CMOS
and BiCMOS manufacturing process. Comparing with other semiconductor devices, an accurate and physical
compact model is critical for LDMOS based circuit design because size of this device is so large. That’s the
reason LDMOS device are seldom used compared with other semiconductor devices. Today, the size of
LDMOS device is needed to smaller and smaller for safe operations [2].Presence of the lightly doped drift
region in LDMOS device has different characteristics effect on breakdown voltage w.r.t conventional MOSFET.
Impact ionization in LDMOS, which depends on the bias conditions, primarily occurs either in the intrinsic
MOSFET or in the drift region. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new resize device with better simulated
characteristic results [1]-[4].
II. DEVICE STRUCTURE AND SIMULATIONS
The schematic cross section of the reference and proposed LDMOS device is illustrated in Fig.1 and fig. 2.
The LDMOS parameters used in our simulation are shown in Table 1. All the device parameters of the new
structure are equivalent to those of the reference LDMOS [5].
Fig.1: LDMOS Cross Section [5] Fig.2: Simulator based LDMOS model](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/a048-150913161240-lva1-app6892/85/Analysis-and-Design-of-a-Low-Voltage-Si-LDMOS-Transistor-1-320.jpg)
![Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor
www.ijlret.com 66 | Page
TABLE 1: SIMULATION PARAMETERS
Parameters Value
Gate length
Channel length
Oxide thickness
Thickness of n well
Thickness of p body
Doping
Substrate (p type)
Source & drain diffusion
P body doping
N well doping
0.75 µm
0.3 µm
35 nm
5 µm
1 µm
10 15
cm -3
5e 19
cm -3
10 17
cm -3
10 16
cm -3
Two dimensional numerical simulations of the proposed structure are done with ATLAS simulator. In addition
to, Poisson and drift/diffusion equations, SRH (Shockley-Read- Hall) and Auger models are considered for
generation/recombination and also IMPACT SELB for impact ionization. These simulations methods allow
taking into account carrier velocity saturation, carrier–carrier scattering in the high doping concentration,
dependence of mobility on temperature and vertical electric influence. Breakdown mechanism is investigated by
both two dimensional process simulations with SILVACO [6]-[9]. It is worth noting that the two dimensional
(2D) simulator is calibrated to experimental data.
III. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
A. Drain Characteristics
The drain characteristics for the LDMOS structure with an LDD dose of 1×10 16
cm-3
are shown in fig.3 for
gate bias voltages ranging from 1 to 10V. It can be seen that the output resistance decrease at high drain voltages
due to the onset of impact ionization which is shown in fig.6 and fig.8. The non-linear increase in drain current
is due to the channel length modulation.
B. Transfer Characteristics
Transfer characteristics shows the relation of the drain current (ID) with the variation of the gate voltage (VGS)
keeping the drain voltage (VDS) fixed. The drain-current flows only if the gate voltage exceeds the threshold
voltage VT. However, for LDMOS after the threshold voltage the current of LDMOS is lower than that of
conventional MOS. This is due to the fact that it has higher on-resistance. Ron is higher due to the addition of
the drift region. At VDS=0.1 Volt and 0.2 Volt, the drain current is plotted against gate voltage (VGS) are shown
in fig.4.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/a048-150913161240-lva1-app6892/85/Analysis-and-Design-of-a-Low-Voltage-Si-LDMOS-Transistor-2-320.jpg)
![Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor
www.ijlret.com 67 | Page
Fig.3. IV characteristics with different gate voltage. Fig.4: ID vs. VGS plot having threshold Voltage (VT) = 1.3V.
C. Breakdown Voltage
In MOSFET when VDS exceeds a certain value, the drain current abruptly increases. As VDS increases, the
peak electric field at drain end of the channel also increases. When
the peak electric field approaches the middle of 105
V/cm range, the impact ionization takes place at the drain
junction leading to sharp increase in ID. The high-energy electrons, which have gained energy from electric
field, have sufficient kinetic energy to generate secondary electrons and holes by impact ionization. The
generated electrons are collected at the drain and then added to ID, while the holes flow to the substrate contact
resulting in substrate current. In LDMOS the drift region supports the applied voltage and protects the channel
region from high voltage. At the applied potential, the depletion stretches along the lateral length or surface over
a much longer distance. Therefore, the electric field is far below the critical field (Ec) and hence more voltage
can be applied before breakdown occurs. It can also be seen from impact ionization rate in fig.6. That it is
shifted from the drain.
In present work, the breakdown occurs at 13.75 V when gate voltage is at 0 V. By increasing gate voltage
breakdown voltage decreases. Fig.5. shows the breakdown curves with varying gate voltage in range 0 to 10 V.
D. Impact Ionization
Impact ionization is the process in a material by which one energetic charge carrier can lose energy by the
creation of other charge carriers. For example, in semiconductors, an electron (or hole) with enough kinetic
energy can knock abound electron out of its bound state (in the valence band) and promote it to a state in the
conduction band, creating an electron-hole-pair. If this occurs in a region of high electrical field then it can
result in avalanche breakdown. In a device the original charge carrier is created by the absorption of a photon
[10]-[12]. In some sense, the impact ionization is the reverse process to Auger recombination. For n-channel
MOSFET, the impact ionization takes place at the junction of substrate and drain region. As voltage is applied at
the drain region, the avalanche breakdown occurs for a very low voltage. However, for LDMOS, the impact
ionization occurs at the junction of drift region and substrate, which is away from the drain region (as shown in
Fig.5). For this reason, this device shows a higher breakdown-voltage.
The electric field is high at drift region, thus avoiding a premature avalanche before reaching the required
breakdown voltage. The potential linearly increase with increase gate voltage shown in fig 7. The high electric](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/a048-150913161240-lva1-app6892/85/Analysis-and-Design-of-a-Low-Voltage-Si-LDMOS-Transistor-3-320.jpg)
![Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor
www.ijlret.com 69 | Page
Fig.9: Capacitance vs. gate voltage Fig.10: Trans-conductance vs gate voltage.
IV. CONCLUSION
The results of two dimensional numerical simulations have been provided to describe its characteristics. The
proposed device gives better result than reference device. The breakdown voltage of this device is higher
compared with reference device. The RON resistance is lower compared with reference device. The feedback
capacitance is reduced so breakdown voltage is improved.
REFERENCES
[1] Wei Yao, Student Member, IEEE , Gennady Gildenblat, Fellow, IEEE, Colin , McAndrew, Fellow,
IEEE, and Alexandra Cassagnes, “Compact Model of Impact Ionization in LDMOS Transistors,” IEEE
Electron Devices., vol. 59, No. 7,July 2012.
[2] Hua Ting-Ting 1, Guo Yu-Feng 1, Yu Ying 1, Gene Sheu2, Jian Tong 1 and Yao Jia-Fei ,” Analytical
models of lateral power devices with arbitrary vertical doping profiles in the drift region”Chin.Phys.B
Vol.22,No.5,2013.
[3] Yogesh Singh Chauhan, Francois Krummenacher, Costin Anghel, Renuad Gillon†, Benoit Bakeroot‡,
Michel Declercq and Adrian Mihai Ionescu,“Analysis and Modeling of Lateral Non-Uniform Doping in
High-Voltage MOSFETs,” AMIS,Belgium,IEEE, 2006.
[4] Nie Weidong 1, 2, Yi Fayou2, and Yu Zongguang 1, “.Kirk effect and suppuration for 20 V planar active
gap LDMOS,”Journal of Semiconductors, Vol.34,No.5, May 2013
[5] Lars Vestling, Member,IEEE,Johan Ankarerona,and Jorgen Olsson,Member,IEEE ,“Analysis and Design
of a Low Voltage High Frequency LDMOS Transistor,” IEEE Electron Devices., vol. 49, No.6,June
2002.
[6] Ali A. Orouji* Mahsa Mehrad, “Breakdown Voltage Improvement of LDMOS by Charge Balancing:An
Inserted P Layer in Trench Oxide,” Electrical Engineering Department,Semnan
University,Semnan,Iran,Superlattices and Microstructures vol.51,pg.412-420,2012.
[7] Device Simulator ATLAS,Silvaco,International,2007
[8] Atlas User’s Manual, Silvaco International,Santa Clara,CA,2007.
[9] John L. B. Walker, Handbook of RF and Microwave Power Amplifiers, Cambridge, 20 February 2013
[10] Matthew Hazel ,Marc Cyr ,”Semiconductor TCAD Fabrication Develepment for BCD Technology,”
Worcester Institute ,2006
[11] N.G.H. Van Melick,”RF Power LDMOS Transistors,” Eindhoven University of Technology, December
1996.
[12] M Jagadesh Kumar and Avikal Bansal,” Improving the breakdown voltage, ON-resistance and gate-
charge of InGaAs LDMOS power transistors,” Semicond. Sci. Technol.vol. 27,No.10,October 2012.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/a048-150913161240-lva1-app6892/85/Analysis-and-Design-of-a-Low-Voltage-Si-LDMOS-Transistor-5-320.jpg)
Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor
- 1. International Journal of Latest Research in Engineering and Technology (IJLRET) ISSN: 2454-5031(Online) www.ijlret.comǁ Volume 1 Issue 3ǁAugust 2015 ǁ PP 65-69 www.ijlret.com 65 | Page Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor Suman Chahar, G.M.Rather Department of Electronics and communication, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India ABSTRACT : This paper presents a compact model of lateral double diffused MOS (LDMOS) transistor having small size and got good result with different characteristics. This model is designed with ATLAS SILVACO and get better simulations of breakdown voltage, on resistance etc. comparing with reference LDMOS. We have designed this device with channel 0.3 µm length and gate 0.75 µm length. KEYWORDS - ATLAS, Breakdown Voltage, Capacitance, LDMOS, On Resistance. I. INTRODUCTION Lateral double diffused MOS (LDMOS) transistors are mostly used in high voltage and RF applications. These applications include high breakdown voltage, low on resistance and compatibility with standard CMOS and BiCMOS manufacturing process. Comparing with other semiconductor devices, an accurate and physical compact model is critical for LDMOS based circuit design because size of this device is so large. That’s the reason LDMOS device are seldom used compared with other semiconductor devices. Today, the size of LDMOS device is needed to smaller and smaller for safe operations [2].Presence of the lightly doped drift region in LDMOS device has different characteristics effect on breakdown voltage w.r.t conventional MOSFET. Impact ionization in LDMOS, which depends on the bias conditions, primarily occurs either in the intrinsic MOSFET or in the drift region. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new resize device with better simulated characteristic results [1]-[4]. II. DEVICE STRUCTURE AND SIMULATIONS The schematic cross section of the reference and proposed LDMOS device is illustrated in Fig.1 and fig. 2. The LDMOS parameters used in our simulation are shown in Table 1. All the device parameters of the new structure are equivalent to those of the reference LDMOS [5]. Fig.1: LDMOS Cross Section [5] Fig.2: Simulator based LDMOS model
- 2. Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor www.ijlret.com 66 | Page TABLE 1: SIMULATION PARAMETERS Parameters Value Gate length Channel length Oxide thickness Thickness of n well Thickness of p body Doping Substrate (p type) Source & drain diffusion P body doping N well doping 0.75 µm 0.3 µm 35 nm 5 µm 1 µm 10 15 cm -3 5e 19 cm -3 10 17 cm -3 10 16 cm -3 Two dimensional numerical simulations of the proposed structure are done with ATLAS simulator. In addition to, Poisson and drift/diffusion equations, SRH (Shockley-Read- Hall) and Auger models are considered for generation/recombination and also IMPACT SELB for impact ionization. These simulations methods allow taking into account carrier velocity saturation, carrier–carrier scattering in the high doping concentration, dependence of mobility on temperature and vertical electric influence. Breakdown mechanism is investigated by both two dimensional process simulations with SILVACO [6]-[9]. It is worth noting that the two dimensional (2D) simulator is calibrated to experimental data. III. RESULTS & DISCUSSION A. Drain Characteristics The drain characteristics for the LDMOS structure with an LDD dose of 1×10 16 cm-3 are shown in fig.3 for gate bias voltages ranging from 1 to 10V. It can be seen that the output resistance decrease at high drain voltages due to the onset of impact ionization which is shown in fig.6 and fig.8. The non-linear increase in drain current is due to the channel length modulation. B. Transfer Characteristics Transfer characteristics shows the relation of the drain current (ID) with the variation of the gate voltage (VGS) keeping the drain voltage (VDS) fixed. The drain-current flows only if the gate voltage exceeds the threshold voltage VT. However, for LDMOS after the threshold voltage the current of LDMOS is lower than that of conventional MOS. This is due to the fact that it has higher on-resistance. Ron is higher due to the addition of the drift region. At VDS=0.1 Volt and 0.2 Volt, the drain current is plotted against gate voltage (VGS) are shown in fig.4.
- 3. Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor www.ijlret.com 67 | Page Fig.3. IV characteristics with different gate voltage. Fig.4: ID vs. VGS plot having threshold Voltage (VT) = 1.3V. C. Breakdown Voltage In MOSFET when VDS exceeds a certain value, the drain current abruptly increases. As VDS increases, the peak electric field at drain end of the channel also increases. When the peak electric field approaches the middle of 105 V/cm range, the impact ionization takes place at the drain junction leading to sharp increase in ID. The high-energy electrons, which have gained energy from electric field, have sufficient kinetic energy to generate secondary electrons and holes by impact ionization. The generated electrons are collected at the drain and then added to ID, while the holes flow to the substrate contact resulting in substrate current. In LDMOS the drift region supports the applied voltage and protects the channel region from high voltage. At the applied potential, the depletion stretches along the lateral length or surface over a much longer distance. Therefore, the electric field is far below the critical field (Ec) and hence more voltage can be applied before breakdown occurs. It can also be seen from impact ionization rate in fig.6. That it is shifted from the drain. In present work, the breakdown occurs at 13.75 V when gate voltage is at 0 V. By increasing gate voltage breakdown voltage decreases. Fig.5. shows the breakdown curves with varying gate voltage in range 0 to 10 V. D. Impact Ionization Impact ionization is the process in a material by which one energetic charge carrier can lose energy by the creation of other charge carriers. For example, in semiconductors, an electron (or hole) with enough kinetic energy can knock abound electron out of its bound state (in the valence band) and promote it to a state in the conduction band, creating an electron-hole-pair. If this occurs in a region of high electrical field then it can result in avalanche breakdown. In a device the original charge carrier is created by the absorption of a photon [10]-[12]. In some sense, the impact ionization is the reverse process to Auger recombination. For n-channel MOSFET, the impact ionization takes place at the junction of substrate and drain region. As voltage is applied at the drain region, the avalanche breakdown occurs for a very low voltage. However, for LDMOS, the impact ionization occurs at the junction of drift region and substrate, which is away from the drain region (as shown in Fig.5). For this reason, this device shows a higher breakdown-voltage. The electric field is high at drift region, thus avoiding a premature avalanche before reaching the required breakdown voltage. The potential linearly increase with increase gate voltage shown in fig 7. The high electric
- 4. Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor www.ijlret.com 68 | Page Fig.5: BV vs. VD at the different gate voltage Fig.6: Impact ionization at breakdown. 0 5 10 15 20 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 Vdrain=3V Potential Vgate(volt) Fig.7: Plot between potential vs. gate voltage. Fig. 8: RON resistance vs. drain voltage, with increase drain voltage, on resistance decreases. field peak is located at the drift/drain edge where the high impact ionization rate at this point is responsible for the avalanche mechanism. The high electric field region is found at the body/drift junction, being responsible of the wide P-body depletion and the high increment of the electron current density at the channel region. E. On Resistance In LDMOS, drift region represents a dynamically varying resistance for current flow and also introduces additional charges. When drain voltage increases from 0 to 6 volts, drain current increases, resistance decreases. A. Capacitance and Trans conductance Other peculiar features are observed in capacitance, showing strong sharp peaks, which significantly change depending on the structure as well as Doping levels. The Trans conductance increases sharply with low gate voltage until 1.6 vaults and then rapidly decreases due to the compression phenomenon and lightly doped drain region.
- 5. Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage Si LDMOS Transistor www.ijlret.com 69 | Page Fig.9: Capacitance vs. gate voltage Fig.10: Trans-conductance vs gate voltage. IV. CONCLUSION The results of two dimensional numerical simulations have been provided to describe its characteristics. The proposed device gives better result than reference device. The breakdown voltage of this device is higher compared with reference device. The RON resistance is lower compared with reference device. The feedback capacitance is reduced so breakdown voltage is improved. REFERENCES [1] Wei Yao, Student Member, IEEE , Gennady Gildenblat, Fellow, IEEE, Colin , McAndrew, Fellow, IEEE, and Alexandra Cassagnes, “Compact Model of Impact Ionization in LDMOS Transistors,” IEEE Electron Devices., vol. 59, No. 7,July 2012. [2] Hua Ting-Ting 1, Guo Yu-Feng 1, Yu Ying 1, Gene Sheu2, Jian Tong 1 and Yao Jia-Fei ,” Analytical models of lateral power devices with arbitrary vertical doping profiles in the drift region”Chin.Phys.B Vol.22,No.5,2013. [3] Yogesh Singh Chauhan, Francois Krummenacher, Costin Anghel, Renuad Gillon†, Benoit Bakeroot‡, Michel Declercq and Adrian Mihai Ionescu,“Analysis and Modeling of Lateral Non-Uniform Doping in High-Voltage MOSFETs,” AMIS,Belgium,IEEE, 2006. [4] Nie Weidong 1, 2, Yi Fayou2, and Yu Zongguang 1, “.Kirk effect and suppuration for 20 V planar active gap LDMOS,”Journal of Semiconductors, Vol.34,No.5, May 2013 [5] Lars Vestling, Member,IEEE,Johan Ankarerona,and Jorgen Olsson,Member,IEEE ,“Analysis and Design of a Low Voltage High Frequency LDMOS Transistor,” IEEE Electron Devices., vol. 49, No.6,June 2002. [6] Ali A. Orouji* Mahsa Mehrad, “Breakdown Voltage Improvement of LDMOS by Charge Balancing:An Inserted P Layer in Trench Oxide,” Electrical Engineering Department,Semnan University,Semnan,Iran,Superlattices and Microstructures vol.51,pg.412-420,2012. [7] Device Simulator ATLAS,Silvaco,International,2007 [8] Atlas User’s Manual, Silvaco International,Santa Clara,CA,2007. [9] John L. B. Walker, Handbook of RF and Microwave Power Amplifiers, Cambridge, 20 February 2013 [10] Matthew Hazel ,Marc Cyr ,”Semiconductor TCAD Fabrication Develepment for BCD Technology,” Worcester Institute ,2006 [11] N.G.H. Van Melick,”RF Power LDMOS Transistors,” Eindhoven University of Technology, December 1996. [12] M Jagadesh Kumar and Avikal Bansal,” Improving the breakdown voltage, ON-resistance and gate- charge of InGaAs LDMOS power transistors,” Semicond. Sci. Technol.vol. 27,No.10,October 2012.