Next-generation semiconductor material has been confirmed

Shinichi Shikata and Hitoshi Umezawa have fabricated a prototype diamond diode rectifier with ruthenium (Ru) electrodes for power device application in collaboration with Tsuyoshi Funaki. Using this element, the switching performance of a diamond semiconductor diode rectifier was measured for the first time and high-speed, low-reverse-recovery current operation was confirmed.

Diamond is well-known material filled with many excellent characteristics including great hardness and thermal conductivity, high optical tranparency, and excellent chemical stability. Due to its excellent semiconductor properties such as high dielectric breakdown field and high carrier mobility, diamond has potential applications as high-voltage, low-loss, fast-response power semiconductor devices for electric power control.

A diode rectifier is a basic component of power devices. In this research, diamond Schottky barrier diodes, combining diamond semiconductors with a Ru Schottky electrode previously developed at AIST, are used to fabricate the rectifier. Silicon semiconductor MOSFETs (a type of transistor) comprise the drive circuit, and a double-pulse method was used to measure the switching recovery properties of the diamond diode rectifier. The results confirmed high-speed switching at only 0.01 microseconds and low-reverse-recovery current (low loss) of just 40 A/cm2.

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The result will be published on Sept. 10, 2010 in "Electronics Express" (www.elex.ieice.org/index.html), an English language journal of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, and will also be presented at the Fall Meeting of the Japan Society of Applied Physics on Sept. 15 in Nagasaki.

Provided by AIST