Mesa planar Schottky barrier diodes

One of the constraints in the application of Schottky barrier diodes for power, logic, microwave or photodetection has been low reverse breakdown voltage. The breakdown voltage for these diodes is primarily governed by a semicircular shaped electrical fringing field. Guard ring diffusions and/or field plates have been used to increase this voltage. However, both these methods suffer from increased capacitance and increased area requirements. A new fabrication method, the mesa planar structure, has been devised to increase breakdown voltage without an increase in capacitance or area requirements. The process, results and comparison with alternative methods will be described in this presentation.