Semiconductor wafer with high thermal conductivity
OwnerMichael Seacristinventor
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Abstract
This invention generally relates to an epitaxial silicon semiconductor wafer with increased thermal conductivity to transfer heat away from a device layer, while also having resistance to common failure mechanisms, such as latch-up failures and radiation event failures. The semiconductor wafer comprises a lightly-doped device layer, a highly-doped protective layer, and a lightly-doped substrate. The invention is also directed to a process for forming such an epitaxial silicon wafer.
Claims26
A semiconductor wafer comprising:
- a substrate having a central axis, a front surface and a back surface that are generally perpendicular to the central axis, a circumferential edge, and a radius extending from the central axis to the circumferential edge, wherein the substrate has a dopant concentration below about 1×1017 carriers/cm3;
- a silicon device layer;
- and
- a silicon protective layer disposed between the device layer and the substrate, the protective layer being doped with a dopant concentration between about 6.0×1017 carriers/cm3 and about 1.0×1020 carriers/cm3 and having a thickness of at least about 0.5 μm.
A process for the preparation of a semiconductor wafer comprising a substrate having a central axis, a front surface and a back surface that are generally perpendicular to the central axis, a circumferential edge, and a radius extending from the central axis to the circumferential edge, wherein the substrate has a dopant concentration below about 1×1017 carriers/cm3, the process comprising:
- forming a protective layer on the front surface of the substrate, the protective layer being doped with a dopant concentration between about 6.0×1017 carriers/cm3 and about 1.0×1020 carriers/cm3 and having a thickness of at least about 0.5 μm;
- and
- forming a device layer on the exposed surface of the protective layer parallel to the front surface of the substrate, the device layer being doped with a dopant concentration below about 1×1017 carriers/cm3.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.