Modeling and Simulation of Monolithic Integration of Rectifiers for

Solid State Lighting Applications

M.R.Venkatesh, P. Liu, H.W. van Zeijl, G.Q. Zhang

Delft University of Technology, DIMES Research Center, Feldmannweg 17, 2628 CT, Delft, the Netherlands
Corresponding author :Manj unath.R.Venkatesh m.ramachandrappavenkatesh@student.tudelft.nl

forward voltage drop, low leakage current and high

Abstract
breakdown voltages. Therefore, schottky diode is the
In this paper, a design methodology for modelling and
most suitable diodes used for rectifier purpose due to their
simulation of monolithic integration of low power
low forward voltage drop and high forward currents. The
rectifier for solid state lighting application is presented.
current is carried only by electrons (unipolar), is able to
The power conversion is built based on schottky diode
switch between the on and off states very fast [2].The
fabricated in a standard BiCMOS process. The process
disadvantages of the Schottky barrier diode is the high
simulation is done by using TSUPREME4 to study the
leakage current and low breakdown voltages. For low
doping profiles and junction depth of the standard
power rectifier architectures the modelling of schottky
BiCMOS fabrication steps. The modelling and design of
based rectifier with the required specification of
the schottky diode for rectifier design is then made with
conversion of 12V-24V AC input power supply to DC
inputs from the process simulation tool. COMSOL
voltage is done by COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b.
Multiphysics environment is used to couple both
semiconductor module and circuit analysis steps. The 220V Step down input
Electrical/Magnetic
simulated IV characteristics of the schottky diode are
transformers
used to build the spice model parameters of the fabricated
device. A model for monolithically integrated rectifier
application and analysis is presented and analysed. AC to DC Power conversion
Rectifier 12V/24V
1. Introduction
Solid State Lighting (SSL) system based on
semiconductor light sources is one of the prominent light LED Driver
sources for future lighting applications. A complete SSL
system consists of optical part, LED electrical driver and
interconnects. The functionality of the electrical driver is Optical module, LED and
to provide power to the optical part of the SSL system [1]. Polymer encapsulation
In many retrofit LED lamp designs like the MR16 and G4
lamps are usually powered by low voltage ACIDC input Figure 1: LED lighting system design.
of 12V to 24V. The initial step down and power 2. Integrated rectifier design flow
conversion is done by an external electrical or magnetic
In the analysis for modelling of the integration of
transformers. A simple block diagram of the SSL system
rectifiers a systematic design flow is proposed in Fig. 2.
of these designs is shown in Fig. 1. The next stage in
design includes the rectifier block for AC to DC power "-abrication process simulation of doping
conversion. DC supply is the main supply used for profile and junction depths using
various driver architectures like buck or boost depending '1" UPREM4
on the optical part present in the SSL system. The rectifier
circuit block in this system mainly consists of schottky
diodes and passive components which is about 50% of the Modelling and ChlU'llcterisntlon of
Individual Schottky diode
PCB space. Since a SSL system is digital in nature, the
lighting function can be combined with electrical
OI'TIII' ISATlOl'!-------'---...
functionality in a single wafer level for miniaturised and a
Modelling nod characterizntion of Parallel
multi functional system. The design proposal in this
Schottky diode configurntion
miniaturised system can have the complete SSL retrofit
systems on a single wafer level with both the electrical
power conversion block and optical blocks consisting of
LEDs. Monolithic integration of power circuitry of DC - AC Simulation of the Schottky diodes
rectifiers, passive components and sensors is a great
challenge to reduce system space and create smaller
products. In this work, the modelling and simulation for
Integration and simulation of Schottky
monolithic integration of the rectifier for the power
diodes in full wave reditier circuit
conversion in the retrofit lamps mentioned is investigated.
The diodes used for a bridge rectifier must have low
Figure 2: Design flow for Integration of rectifiers.

978-1-4799-4790-4/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE - 1/6 -

2014 15th International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Microsystems, EuroSimE 2014
 With thisdesign flow, it allows us to study and The schottky metal contact is made directly on the N­
optimize the design steps at each stage. The simulated test Well region. The next step in the process is to have ohmic
data obtained at each design steps will be helpful in contact for the schottky diode.
NWell Doping ProTi Ie -
improving the design in the subsequent steps, as shown in
Fig. 2..In this flow, the fabrication process is first studied
to obtain information about the doping profile, doping
concentrations and the junction depth of the fabrication
process [4]. This data will serve as the input for the
modelling of schottky diodes used in the rectifier designs. ,

The simulation data of the doping profiles are obtained

through TSUPREM4 process simulation tool. The doping ,
u

concentrations data of the p-substrate, N-Well, shallow �

N+ used for ohmic contact and the P+ guard ring in the 15

process simulation tool will yield useful information like

the junction depths . Based on these data, COMSOL B.B 2.B '.B ... a., 10.8

Multiphysics semiconductor module is used for modelling

and analysis of schottky diodes. A standard BiCMOS Figure 3. N- Well doping with 4Hrs diffusion
process steps for bipolar transistor is used as the baseline NWell Uoping �rof'ile -
to obtain the doping concentration of the layers used in
the schottky diode fabrication process [5].
The substrate wafer used in this process is p-type
<100> starting material doped with Boron at a
concentration of 1x1016cm-3. The next stage is the -316
implantation of N-type dopant for the N-Well formation
in which the schottky diode would be fabricated. We have
used a P-type substrate in this process in order to be able
to integrate more devices that CMOS devices and BJT.
With a P-substrate it is easier to build both NMOS and
PMOS devices when compared to an n-substrate wafer.
Ion Implantation process is used for the N-Well formation 2.'
DlsLar.c€
6.'
Otlc:rons)
8.' U3.B

as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. The n-type dopant used in

Figure 4. N- Well doping with 8Hrs diffusion
this process is phosphor beam of dopant ions. The
The schottky metal contact is made directly on the N­
phosphor implant dose was varied from 6x1012cm-3 to
Well region. The next step in the process is to have ohmic
9xlO12cm-3 at implantation energy of 150keV. In this
contact for the schottky diode, which is obtained by
process step simulation, the wafer is also tilted by an
interfacing the metal to a highly doped P or N region. For
angle of T to the incoming phosphor ion beam. A
the N-type it is denoted as shallow N region and for the P­
rotation of 2r from the wafer flat along the vertical axis
type (used for guard ring) it is denoted as shallow P
is also performed, which is one of the standard process
region. Both the shallow N and P are highly doped
done to achieve better collision with the lattice of the
regions in the order of IxI019cm-3. This highly doped
incoming ion beam. This prevents channeling and
region results in increases the conductivity and a metal
achieves the desired dopant profile as per the calculated
contact provided here will have behavior of small
ion implantation. After this process, a drive in step is
resistance. The shallow N and shallow P doping profile
performed for the dopants to diffuse into the substrate,
and the junction depth data are determined to be used in
which gives the information for junction depths. The
further simulation steps in modeling of the schottky
diffusion and drive in is then performed at high
diode.
temperature and in oxygen and nitrogen environment. The
variation in time in diffusion will result in different 3. Schottky diode modeling for rectifier application
junction depths. The TSUPREM4 simulation for different In the next design step from Fig. 1, a model of
NWell junction depth simulation is tabulated in Table l. schottky diode is done to study the behavior to be used for
rectifier design using the COMSOL Multiphysics
Table 1: Junction depth for various drive-in diffusion time semiconductor module. The schottky diode is a unipolar
N- Well Doping Junction Depth device used mostly for power electronics conversion
Diffusion Time applications. It has low forward voltage drop and a high
Concentration 111m]
3 x 10 16em·J 4 Hrs 2
switching behavior. In comparison with P-N junction
3 x 10 16em·J 8 Hrs 3
diode, schottky diode has approximately a turn on voltage
2 Hrs
which is 50% lesser in the order of 0.2V to 0.45V. The
5 x 10 IGem·] 1.6
schottky diode is a majority carrier device, hence there is
no diffusion capacitance associated in forward bias and
during the switching from forward to reverse bias case

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2014 15th International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Microsystems, EuroSimE 2014
 there is no minority carrier storage time. This feature
makes it suitable in fast switching applications. An
analytical analysis of the schottky diode is first made and
compared with modeled device.
For any semiconductor device, there should be
mechanisms for current transfer to external components,
the design will have a barrier potential of 0.126V. This
should be the applied forward voltage (Va) for obtaining
current conduction in the schottky contact device.
Ohmic Contact

which is achieved mainly by two ways:Ohmic contact and

Schottky contact. For ohmic contact the metal is
evaporated on the highly doped semiconductor region
)1 Schottky
which can be p+ or n+ regions. The characteristics of this
\ Contact
contact will be highly linear and the contact resistance is
\.J
12

less, which allows current transfer without affecting the

device performance. For schottky contact, the metal is
evaporated directly on the lower doped semiconductor
region. In this device the schottky contact is made on the
N-Well region. The ohmic contact is linear and allows
current in both ways but the schottky contact has
rectifying behavior and it allows the flow of current only .3.18

in one direction. The potential barrier seen by the

electrons in the metal to move into the semiconductor in Figure 5. Volume Log of electron concentration
Time-O Volume: log of hole tonc:entration (1)
equilibrium is called as the schottky barrier <Pbo [6]. It is
given by the below equation,
<Pbo=(<Pm-X) (1)
where <Pm is the metal work function and X is the electron
affinity of silicon. This is the barrier the electrons have to ) 12

7
overcome to cross over to the semiconductor. In a similar
}
way the electrons moving from semiconductor to the
metal will also face a barrier called as built in voltage.
\�
The built in voltage Vbi for the schottky contact at
equilibrium is given by,
Vbi =(<Pbo- <Pn) (2)
where <Pn is the work function of the n-type
semiconductor. It is given as, '\l.. ,
.0.19

kT Nc
qm =-*In- (3) Figure 6. Volume Log of hole concentration
e Nd

In our fabrication process, we consider the schottky A comsol model for semiconductor with schottky metal
contact formed on the N-well. The schottky metal contact contact is designed as shown in Fig. 5. The doping profile
in this is made using aluminum having a work function of of the N-well region is kept at Ix1017cm-3 with junction
depth of 211m. Ion implantation step with drive in
<Pm= 4.28eV. The electron affInity of silicon X is 4.01eV.
For different doping profIles as simulated in previous diffusion is performed and a Gaussian profIle of the
doping concentration is obtained for the N-Well region.
section of TSUPREM4 the built-in voltage is determined.
The schottky contact with aluminum as the metal has a
width of 211m. The ohmic contact is made at the interface
Table 2:Built in voltage for different doping concentration of the highly doped N+ region which is the shallow N
N- Well Doping N-type semiconductor Vbi - built in region having a junction depth of 0.311m. The distribution
Concentration work function qm (V) voltage (V)
of electron and hole concentration in the schottky diode in
1x 10 16 em'] 0.203 0.067 the entire semiconductor block is shown in Fig. 5 and 6.
1x l 017 em'] 0.144 0.126
The current transport in the schottky diode is mainly
']
1x 10 IS em 0.085 0.185
due to majority carriers (electrons in the n-type) described
']
1x 10 IS em 0.026 0.243
by the thermionic emission theory. The current density in
the forward bias of the schottky contact is given as,
eVa
From equation (I) it can be seen that schottky barrier J = Js * exp(kT") (4)
height is dependent only on the metal work function and
where Js is the reverse saturation current density given as
independent of the doping concentration of N-well [7].
However, the built in potential Vbi varies with the doping (e<Pbn)
concentration of N-well. A N-well concentration of Js = A * T2 * exp (5)
kT
10e17/cm3 with a junction depth of 2um is modelled in

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2014 15th International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Microsystems, EuroSimE 2014
 The parameter A is called the Richardson constant for ..
Arrow Surfa::e: lota c,.orrlnl d.ns ty nodal alue

15
thermionic emission and <Pbn 0.65eV is the schottky
�

barrier height of n-type silicon with aluminum contact. 0.5

The current density J for different applied voltage is

\ ) J j,,
\ l�
"'.5
tabulated using the equations 4 and 5. The temperature is
taken as 293.13 K. The Richardson's constant for ,
.,
-1.5 /
:
Aluminum on n-type silicon is 110 A/cm 2K2. The current
-
(

-, --
�
:::
(

-2,5
density graphs are simulated with the comsol model as ::
·3
shown in Fig 7. In this model, the schottky contact is the ·3,5
cathode terminal and the Ohmic contact is the anode. The
voltage at the anode of the diode is increased in steps of 10

O.IV. Figure 8. Current flow in Schottky diode

individual schottky diode was modeled and the behavior

was analyzed. The structure of four parallel design of
schottky is shown in Fig. 9 with the surface electron
concentration at reverse bias of anode voltage. The blue
region is the increase in the depletion region with
decrease in the electron concentration when compared to
the electron concentration at the Ohmic contacts.

Figure 7: JV characteristics of schottky comsol model

The obtained results is tabulated and verified with the
analytical solutions from the Table 3. The theoretical
reverse saturation current density is 4.824x 10 11 A//lm2. .
Table 3 : Current density vs applied voltage
Figure 9. Surface electron concentration of parallel
Applied fmgered Schottky diode in reverse bias condition at -1V
Current density Current density
Voltage
(J) A/um2 (J) A/um2
(Va) in V The IV curves of the parallel fingered schottky diode
Theoretical Simulated
configuration are shown in Fig. 10. The current increased
0.1 2.63 x 10.11 5.36 X 1O.]() by a factor of 100 times but the drawback is that the
0.2 1.46x 10.9 1.6 X 10.8 reverse saturation current of this schottky diode also
0.3 7.99x 10.8 1.37 X 10.7 increased by a factor of 10.
0.4 4.36 x 10.6 4.16x 10.7
0.5 2.3 x 10.5 1.2 X 10.6

The simulated data of the schottky diode current is

very close to the analytical solutions from Fig. 7. The 200

current flow in the device is shown for the forward biased

schottky diode Fig. 8. As shown in Fig. 8, it is clear that
in the forward bias condition the total current flow is from 50

the anode terminal to the cathode through N-Well.

In order to increase the current density of the schottky 20

diode one method is to increase the area of the schottky 10

diode. The other method is to design a parallel

combination of anode and cathode contacts as multiple
fingers. The current through the schottky contact to the
Ohmic contact is limited by the series resistance in the n­ 0,1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

well. The parallel combination of all the schottky diodes

reduces the series resistance hence increasing the current Figure 10: JV characteristics of parallel fmgered
density of the diodes. A parallel diode structure of the Schottky diode model.

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2014 15th International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Microsystems, EuroSimE 2014
 For the case of low power rectifier diode application
driving a single low power LED, the requirement for the
breakdown voltage is in the range of 20-30V [S]. The
above configuration of schottky diode incorporated with
fingers was simulated for the range up to 30V and the
diode performance was analyzed. The majority carrier
current transport from the schottky contact to the anode
terminal is less and determined by the reverse saturation
current Js.
The main reason for choosing schottky diode in power
converter applications than p-n diode is that the forward
voltage drop of p-n diode will be in the range of O.7-0.SV.
For a AC voltage supply of 12V, a p-n diode with a full
wave rectifier configuration there will be a voltage drop
of about lA-l.6V in the output rectified voltage. This
gives an efficiency loss of 20-30%. But a design of full
wave rectifier with schottky diodes will allow a voltage
drop of only 0.6-0.SV in the fmal output voltage. Hence,
an integrated rectifier with schottky diodes would be a
more efficient design than with p-n diodes.
An AC simulation for 12V, 50Hz power supply with a
single schottky diode was carried out to check the
behavior of the schottky diode in half-wave rectifier
configuration. The AC/DC physics with electrical circuit
feature is added to the semiconductor physics module in
COMSOL [3]. It performs a complete analysis with the
physics model of the parallel finger of schottky diode
configuration. The half-wave rectified voltage of the
schottky diode configuration is shown in Fig. I I.
Figure 11. AC simulation of Half wave rectifier with
Schottky diode.
The bridge rectifier configuration as shown in Fig. 12
is the most ideal full wave configuration, which consists
of four diodes with 2 diodes always conducting during
positive and negative half of the cycle.
C1
220 �F
Figure 12. Bridge rectifier circuit
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2014 15th International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Microsystems, EuroSimE 2014
The filter part of the circuit converts the output ripple
ac voltage into a smooth dc voltage. The schottky diodes
modelled in the previous section was used and a layout
for the integrated rectifier was designed.
Figure 13 Model of Monolithically integrated Bridge
rectifier circuit with initial electron concentration
The full wave rectifier configuration as per the circuit
configuration was integrated as above design in Figure
12. This simulation result was tried in COMSOL but
encountered many converging solution problems. In
order to check if the modelled schottky diode with
parallel finger configuration is suitable diode for the
rectifier circuit, the diode model parameters was extracted
from the IV characteristics. This was done by detailed IV
characteristic simulation of the parallel finger schottky
diode at different temperatures ranging from 20°C to
100°C. The parameter extraction model was used to build
a model of the schottky device. The next step to simulate
this was to obtain the model parameters from the schottky
diode simulated. Important parameters were reverse
saturation current (Is) and breakdown voltage. Which
served as input parameters for the electric circuit
simulation in the ACIDC module of the circuit simulation
in COMSOL. The spice circuit was then simulated for the
diode parameters obtained from the simulated schottky
diode in full wave rectifier configuration and the output
was obtained as shown in Fig. 14. The output DC voltage
is used to power the driver circuit components and the
LED module.
Volta.ltacroSi
DIode In r011tlvt
".Ifcycl .. __
....... Voltage .. croud ....c-eVl
-+-Voltigt"cfondNcoi01
....... Vollaga urou dhl",! Rt
vallagfl a�rMI dhlc .. Vl
-+- Voltage ;lcron a....'. 02
VollallflamlssahiceR2
Figure 14. AC simulation of Full wave rectifier with
Schottky diode.
In this design approach, the behaviour of the rectifier
circuit from device fabrication simulation to circuit
analysis is analysed . By using a highly well defined mesh
-
 size the multiphysics analysis can be improved and a
more detailed study is required to understand the non­
convergence issue of the 3D model of the diodes during
circuit analysis step. Based on this design methodology,
information for wafer level integration can be obtained for
not only diodes and rectifiers, but also other
active/passive components.
4. Conclusions
A design methodology for modelling and simulation
of integrating rectifier circuit monolithically was
presented. COMSOL Multiphysics environment for
semiconductor and AC/DC modules. For low voltage
solid state lighting applications, wafer level integration of
power conversion modules can be integrated using
schottky diode elements fabricated in standard BiCMOS
process. This simulation environment provides a complete
study of the fabrication process and circuit analysis for
the modeled semiconductor devices. It links the
processing parameters with device performance, which
provides information for circuit design before processing.
The input parameters such as the junction depths, doping
profile, device structure can be changed at every step of
the design to optimize the output circuit. The simulation
results serves as a base for multifunctional LED module
design with integrated power conversion circuitry,
especially for wafer level integration.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Yi Wang and Willem van
driel from Philips Lighting for the knowledge sharing and
support in the rectifier and electrical module design for
solid state lighting.
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2014 15th International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Microsystems, EuroSimE 2014
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