A measurement method of the ideal I-V characteristics of diodes up to the built-in voltage limit

An experimental method for determining the series resistance of lateral diodes at arbitrary values of the forward voltage is described. The technique requires the realization of a very small region close to the injecting junction and is based on the measure of the de voltage at the latter region during the operation of the diode. The measurement method is capable to determine the carrier density injected from the junction at an arbitrary voltage, and hence, to characterize the Schockley behavior of the diode up to very high currents. Using this method the exponential behavior of lateral power diodes has been characterized in this paper up to built-in voltage limit, corresponding to current densities of 10 kA/cm(2) and injection levels as high as 4 x 10(18)cm(-3) As shown by numerical simulation the method can be applied to the extraction of the input resistance of bipolar devices. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.