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 dio des at arbitrary values of the forward voltage is described. The technique requires the realization of a very small region close to the injecting junc tion and is based on the measure of the de voltage at the latter region dur ing the operation of the diode. The measurement method is capable to determ ine 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, c orresponding to current densities of 10 kA/cm(2) and injection levels as hi gh as 4 x 10(18)cm(-3) As shown by numerical simulation the method can be a pplied to the extraction of the input resistance of bipolar devices. (C) 19 99 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.