Measurement of the PtH defect depth profiles in fully processed silicon high-voltage diodes by improved current transient spectroscopy

A new, simplified, and more versatile current transient spectroscopy (CTS) measurement setup is demonstrated. With this setup, the depth profile of the platinum-hydrogen (PtH) defect in fully processed silicon high-voltage (HV) test diodes is investigated. It is shown that a proton field stop (FS) at the backside of these test devices suppresses the in-diffusion of hydrogen (H) leading to a significant reduction of the PtH defect concentration throughout the entire volume of the diode. Furthermore, a strong correlation of the depth profile of the PtH defect and the leakage current is observed. Thus, we conclude that the PtH defect is the main generation center in the investigated devices.

Automated summary

A new, simplified and versatile current transient spectroscopy (CTS) measurement setup is demonstrated in this study. The depth profile of the PtH defect in fully processed silicon HV test diodes is investigated using this setup. It is found that a proton field stop (FS) at the backside of the test devices can effectively reduce the PtH defect concentration throughout the diode volume, and a strong correlation between the depth profile of the PtH defect and the leakage current is observed.