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Published in:
2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
6. Schottky Diodes
Authors : Josef Lutz, Heinrich Schlangenotto, Uwe Scheuermann, Rik De Doncker
Published in: Semiconductor Power Devices
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
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Excerpt
Schottky diodes are formed by a metal-semiconductor junction, whose rectifying behavior was described early [Sch38, Sch39]. They are unipolar devices, which means that only one type of carriers is available for the current transport. If they are designed for large blocking voltages, the resistance of the base will increase strongly due to the lack of charge carrier modulation. Schottky power diodes have been used for a long time, but in the last years they have gained an increased importance in following areas:-
Si Schottky diodes in the voltage range up to approximately 100 V to be used as freewheeling diodes for MOSFETs. Their advantage is the low junction voltage and the absence of stored charge. At turn-off from conducting to blocking mode, only the capacitive recharge of the junction capacitance needs to be considered. This makes them very useful for very high switching frequencies.
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Schottky diodes from semiconductor materials with wide bandgap. With these materials, much higher blocking voltages are possible due to the higher critical fields. Because of the much smaller possible junction voltage compared with wide-gap pn-diodes, Schottky diodes have become an attractive alternative.