Aluminum alloy/silicon-chromium sandwich schottky diode
AssigneeLinear Technology Corporation
InventorsJohn E. Readdie, Benjamin H. Kwan, Jeng Chang
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Abstract
A Schottky diode is presented which has reduced minority carrier injection and reduced diffusion of the metallization into the semiconductor. These improvements are obtained by interposing a layer comprising a mixture of silicon and chromium between the anode metallization layer and the semiconductor in a Schottky diode. The layer including chromium acts an effective barrier against the diffusion of the metallization layer into the semiconductor, and at the same time reduces the amount of minority carrier injection into the substrate. The layer including chromium requires no addition photolithograpic masks because it can be plasma etched using the metallization layer as a mask after that layer has been patterned.
Claims9
An improved method of manufacturing an integrated circuit Schottky diode having a rectifying junction formed at an interface between a metallization layer and a semiconductor, the improvement comprising the step of interposing a barrier layer formed from a premixed material having at least three constituents including chromium, silicon from a source other than the semiconductor, and a third element between the metallization layer and the semiconductor to form the rectifying junction.
A method of manufacturing a Schottky barrier diode contact comprising the steps of:
- oxidizing the surface of an impurity-doped silicon substrate;
- forming a contact hole in the oxide exposed area of the surface of the underlying silicon substrate;
- bonding a premixed layer of multiple elements including silicon from a source other than the silicon substrate and chromium to the exposed surface area of the underlying silicon substrate to provide a Schottky barrier layer substantially above the exposed surface area of the underlying silicon substrate;
- and
- electrically coupling a metallization layer to the multiple-element Schottky barrier layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.