High performance gated lateral polysilicon PIN diodes

This paper investigates the characteristics of high performance lateral pol ysilicon diodes. Low leakage currents and high ON currents were achieved us ing a gated PIN diode structure. An independent control gate terminal was p laced over the intrinsic region of the diodes to improve the properties of the polysilicon diodes. The addition of the control gate was found to impro ve both the ON resistance and the leakage current by an order of magnitude. The gated PIN diodes had leakage currents less than 0.05 pA mu m(-1) width at 5 V of reverse bias, and ON resistance less than 1 M Omega mu m(-1) wid th for an intrinsic region length of 2 mu m. A gated PIN diode model is pre sented that models the diode as an ideal diode in series with a thin film t ransistor. This model is used to explain the impact of the control gate on the ON resistance and the leakage current of the gated PIN lateral polysili con diodes. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.