WO2003073509A1 - Bipolar transistor structure - Google Patents

Bipolar transistor structure Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2003073509A1
WO2003073509A1 PCT/IT2002/000123 IT0200123W WO03073509A1 WO 2003073509 A1 WO2003073509 A1 WO 2003073509A1 IT 0200123 W IT0200123 W IT 0200123W WO 03073509 A1 WO03073509 A1 WO 03073509A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
transistor structure
emitter
base
thyristor
bipolar transistor
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IT2002/000123
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Cesare Ronsisvalle
Original Assignee
Stmicroelectronics S.R.L.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Stmicroelectronics S.R.L. filed Critical Stmicroelectronics S.R.L.
Priority to PCT/IT2002/000123 priority Critical patent/WO2003073509A1/en
Priority to AU2002241256A priority patent/AU2002241256A1/en
Priority to EP02707105A priority patent/EP1479108A1/en
Priority to CNB028283805A priority patent/CN100390996C/en
Publication of WO2003073509A1 publication Critical patent/WO2003073509A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
    • H01L27/02—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers
    • H01L27/04—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body
    • H01L27/08—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including only semiconductor components of a single kind
    • H01L27/082—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including only semiconductor components of a single kind including bipolar components only
    • H01L27/0823—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including only semiconductor components of a single kind including bipolar components only including vertical bipolar transistors only
    • H01L27/0825—Combination of vertical direct transistors of the same conductivity type having different characteristics,(e.g. Darlington transistors)
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/77—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate
    • H01L21/78—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices
    • H01L21/82—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices to produce devices, e.g. integrated circuits, each consisting of a plurality of components
    • H01L21/822—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components or integrated circuits formed in, or on, a common substrate with subsequent division of the substrate into plural individual devices to produce devices, e.g. integrated circuits, each consisting of a plurality of components the substrate being a semiconductor, using silicon technology
    • H01L21/8222—Bipolar technology
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
    • H01L27/02—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers
    • H01L27/04—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body
    • H01L27/06—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including a plurality of individual components in a non-repetitive configuration
    • H01L27/07—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including a plurality of individual components in a non-repetitive configuration the components having an active region in common
    • H01L27/0744—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including a plurality of individual components in a non-repetitive configuration the components having an active region in common without components of the field effect type

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an improved bipolar transistor structure. More particularly, the invention relates to a bipolar transistor structure having conventional base, collector and emitter terminals.
  • the invention relates specifically, but not exclusively, to a bipolar transistor inserted into a bipolar transistors Darlington configuration and the following description is given with reference to this field of application with the only purpose to simplify its disclosure.
  • These kind of small spark engines normally include an electronic starter using power transistors and, in the most occasions, power .transistors in a Darlington configuration.
  • a transistor Darlington configuration includes a couple of bipolar transistors connected one to the other with a common collector terminal and with the base terminal of a first or driver transistor connected to the base terminal of a second transistor.
  • bipolar power transistors are often used connected one to the other in a Darlington configuration.
  • the technical problem of the present invention is that of providing a new bipolar transistor structure, inside a Darlington configuration if that is the case, such a structure having functional and structural features allowing to simplify the corresponding driving circuit or even to omit it.
  • Such a transistor structure should be suitable for semiconductor ' integration by a simple manufacturing process at low costs. Disclosure of Invention
  • the solution idea behind the invention is that of integrating on a same chip the power bipolar transistor and a Thyristor SCR device between the base terminal and the emitter terminal of said transistor.
  • the driving circuit of the Darlington configuration is extremely simplified and a simple current pulse signal on the gate terminal of the Thyristor SCR device allows realising a short-circuit between the base and the emitter terminals of the power transistor thus turning off the power transistor itself or the Darlington configuration wherein it is inserted.
  • a transistor of that kind is inside a Darlington configuration it's preferable to use an Emitter Switching .technology so that the base and emitter regions in the semiconductor chip are obtained by buried layers and corresponding sinker contact regions.
  • the invention further relates to a manufacturing process of such a transistor structure as defined in claims 8 and following.
  • - Figure 1 is a schematic view of a Darlington transistors structure realised according to the present invention
  • - Figure 2 shows a schematic view in a vertical cross section and enlarged scale of an integrated semiconductor circuit portion including at least a transistor according to the scheme of Figure 1;
  • Figures 3 and 4 show respective schematic views in vertical cross section and enlarged scale of a semiconductor material portion that is subjected to the process phase according to the present invention for manufacturing an integrated transistors structure as shown in Figure 2;
  • the Darlington structure 1 comprises a first driver transistor Tl, of the NPN type, having conventional terminals: a base Bl terminal, a collector Cl terminal and an emitter El terminal.
  • the transistor Tl is a power transistor for application with high currents and voltages.
  • the Darlington structure 1 comprises a second power transistor T2, of the NPN type, having conventional terminals: a base B2 terminal, a collector C2 terminal a d an emitter E2 terminal.
  • this second transistor T2 is a bipolar power transistor.
  • the two transistors Tl and T2 are connected one to the other with the emitter El of the first transistor Tl connected to the base B2 of the second transistor T2 and with common collectors Cl and C2 terminals.
  • the common collectors Cl and C2 correspond to the collector terminal C of the whole structure;
  • the base Bl of the first transistor Tl is the base terminal B of the whole structure while the emitter terminal E2 of - the second transistor is the emitter of the whole structure 1.
  • the terminal B, C and E correspond to the terminal of a single bipolar transistor and the whole portion included inside the dotted line may be considered a single power transistor.
  • the collector terminal C is normally coupled to a voltage supply reference.
  • a resistance R is connected between the collector terminal C and the base terminal B of the Darlington structure 1 ; the resistance R is integrated in the same chip.
  • the resistance R is a high voltage type, that is to say it is suitable to withstand high voltage values between its terminals. This resistance may be integrated according to what disclosed in the US patent No. 5,053,743.
  • an electronic device 3 a SCR thyristor device, is connected between the base B and the emitter E of the Darlington structure 1.
  • the thyristor device 3 is realised in a four-layer PNPN structur ,. that will be disclosed after.
  • the Darlington structure 1, the resistance R and the SCR thyristor device 3 are integrated into the same semiconductor material portion and form a monolithic integrated circuit.
  • the structure 1 may be manufactured even with an Emitter Switching (E.S) technology.
  • E.S Emitter Switching
  • both the emitter E and the base B are realised with buried layers and contact sinker wells, as shown in figure 2.
  • the Darlington structure 1 may be considered integrating also the driving circuit.
  • the driving circuit of the Darlington configuration is so simplified if compared to know " solutions that with a simple pulse signal on the gate terminal of the thyristor 3 SCR it's possible to establish a short circuit between the base B and the emitter E thus turning off the Darlington configuration.
  • a very simple circuit is required to apply the more suitable current pulse to the gate terminal of the thyristor.
  • the figures that represent cross sections of integrated circuit portions during its manufacturing process are not reproduced in scale but are reproduced to show the most important features of the invention.
  • the inventive process initially provides for a diffusion step.
  • the doping phases and the kind of the diffused regions are always disclosed just as a indicative and non-limitative example since they may be implemented in a dual manner.
  • This layer 5 has an N- type doping and a resistivity and thickness corresponding to the voltage level that the structure 1 may stand as a whole.
  • This epitaxial layer 5 may or may not contain an optional energy layer.
  • a first buried layer 6 (P-BL) is then realised to form the base B of the first transistor Tl and so of the Darlington structure 1.
  • a thermal oxide layer is formed on the surface; an aperture is defined through this oxide layer to realise, by a photolithography technique, a second buried layer 7 (N-BL) allowing to obtain the emitter E2 of the second transistor T2 of the Darlington structure 1.
  • a second " epitaxial layer 8 is grown having the same resistivity type of the first epitaxial layer 5 but with a thickness of few micron, for instance 4-6 micron, as schematically shown in figure 3.
  • the process is carried on with a diffusion phase of so-called sinker wells 9, 10, of the P and N type respectively, which are obtained inside the second epitaxial layer 8 and are provided to contact the corresponding base and emitter regions, that is the first 6 and the second buried layer 7.
  • the sinker diffusion 9, of the P type, is also used to form the anode of the thyristor 3 SCR.
  • FIG. 4 Obviously, at one side of figure 4 there are the first and the second transistors Tl, T2 of the Darlington configuration.
  • the other figures 5 and 6 show an enlarged portion of the same semiconductor material allowing seeing even the Darlington structure.
  • These layers 11, 12 are obtained by diffusion and are of a P and N+ type respectively. These layers 11, 12 are provided for the P body and N source regions of the thyristor in the Emitter Switching structure.
  • the layers obtained at the end of this process step provide a PNPN four layers structure as clearly shown in figure 5. More particularly, the P layer 11 is the gate of the thyristor device 3 while the N+ layer 12 is its cathode.
  • a gate contact 14 is provided over the P region 11 for the thyristor SCR that also correspond to the base B of the structure 1.
  • the thyristor area so realised is suitably sized so that the direct voltage drop (Vf) on this component is minor than the voltage drop base-emitter (Vbe) of the structure 1. In this manner an efficient short circuit is realised between the base B and the emitter E.
  • a second metallic layer 15 is provided to contact the anode of the thyristor 3 SCR and the base B of the Darlington structure 1 with the high voltage resistance R that is connected to the voltage supply reference.
  • the improved Darlington structure according to the present invention do solves the technical problem and reached various advantages the first of which is given on the fact that, inside a single integrated power circuit, a simple and efficient driving circuit is obtained for the transistor or the transistors Darlington structure.
  • the turning off speed is not very high but this is not a problem for the kind of applications wherein the Darlington structure is integrated.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Bipolar Transistors (AREA)
  • Bipolar Integrated Circuits (AREA)

Abstract

The invention relates to an improved bipolar transistor structure (1) that may be integrated into a Darlington configuration, of the type having conventional base (B), collector (C) and emitter (E) terminals and comprising a resistance (R) between the collector (C) and the (B) and a thyristor device (3) SCR between the base (B) and the emitter (E). The resistance (R) is a high voltage resistance to keep normally ON the transistor structure while the thyristor is a turning off circuit that is enabled and driven on its gate terminal.

Description

Bipolar Transistor Structure
DESCRIPTION
Technical Field
The present invention relates to an improved bipolar transistor structure. More particularly, the invention relates to a bipolar transistor structure having conventional base, collector and emitter terminals.
The invention relates specifically, but not exclusively, to a bipolar transistor inserted into a bipolar transistors Darlington configuration and the following description is given with reference to this field of application with the only purpose to simplify its disclosure. Background Art
As is well known in this specific technical field, in many applications requiring the use of small spark engines, for instance in small engine operated tools, there is a strong need to guarantee the tool functioning even in the extreme operating and/ or environment conditions.
Reference may be made to motorcutters, motorsaw or motorblades etc., that is to all that tool operated by a small spark engine that must work under extreme or effort conditions.
These kind of small spark engines normally include an electronic starter using power transistors and, in the most occasions, power .transistors in a Darlington configuration.
As is well known to the skilled men, a transistor Darlington configuration includes a couple of bipolar transistors connected one to the other with a common collector terminal and with the base terminal of a first or driver transistor connected to the base terminal of a second transistor.
This structure is used since many years and knows in literature.
In previously cited applications, bipolar power transistors are often used connected one to the other in a Darlington configuration.
Even if advantageous under many point of view, and substantially meeting the needs, the above configuration raises some driving problems, mainly during the turn off phase.
In fact, actually the know art proposes to drive the Darlington configurations for power applications through corresponding driving circuits having a complex and expensive structure that don't raise the producer interest since there is no real market for a very large scale integration.
The technical problem of the present invention is that of providing a new bipolar transistor structure, inside a Darlington configuration if that is the case, such a structure having functional and structural features allowing to simplify the corresponding driving circuit or even to omit it.
Such a transistor structure should be suitable for semiconductor ' integration by a simple manufacturing process at low costs. Disclosure of Invention
The solution idea behind the invention is that of integrating on a same chip the power bipolar transistor and a Thyristor SCR device between the base terminal and the emitter terminal of said transistor.
In this manner the driving circuit of the Darlington configuration is extremely simplified and a simple current pulse signal on the gate terminal of the Thyristor SCR device allows realising a short-circuit between the base and the emitter terminals of the power transistor thus turning off the power transistor itself or the Darlington configuration wherein it is inserted. Advantageously, when a transistor of that kind is inside a Darlington configuration it's preferable to use an Emitter Switching .technology so that the base and emitter regions in the semiconductor chip are obtained by buried layers and corresponding sinker contact regions.
According to the above solution idea the technical problem is solved by a bipolar transistor structure defined in claim 1 and following.
The invention further relates to a manufacturing process of such a transistor structure as defined in claims 8 and following.
The features and advantages of the transistor and the corresponding manufacturing process will appear from the description of an indicative and non-limiting example given hereinafter with reference to the enclosed drawings. Brief Description of Drawings
- Figure 1 is a schematic view of a Darlington transistors structure realised according to the present invention; - Figure 2 shows a schematic view in a vertical cross section and enlarged scale of an integrated semiconductor circuit portion including at least a transistor according to the scheme of Figure 1;
- Figures 3 and 4 show respective schematic views in vertical cross section and enlarged scale of a semiconductor material portion that is subjected to the process phase according to the present invention for manufacturing an integrated transistors structure as shown in Figure 2;
- Figures 5 and 6 show respective schematic views in vertical cross section and enlarged scale of an expanded semiconductor material portion that is subjected to further process phases according to the present invention. Modes for Carrying Out the Invention
With reference to the drawings figures, and more specifically to the example of figure 1, with 1 is globally and schematically shown a bipolar transistors structure in a Darlington configuration realised according to the present invention with the manufacturing process that will be disclosed hereinafter.
As previously reported, the structure 1 is disclosed just as a indicative and non-limiting example to illustrate an application of this new kind of power transistor obtained with the invention. The use of the inventive transistor in a Darlington configuration may be suitable to obtain higher gains; however, the principle of the invention may be applied to a single transistor of the Darlington configuration. The Darlington structure 1 comprises a first driver transistor Tl, of the NPN type, having conventional terminals: a base Bl terminal, a collector Cl terminal and an emitter El terminal.
Preferably, the transistor Tl is a power transistor for application with high currents and voltages. The Darlington structure 1 comprises a second power transistor T2, of the NPN type, having conventional terminals: a base B2 terminal, a collector C2 terminal a d an emitter E2 terminal.
Even this second transistor T2 is a bipolar power transistor. In the Darlington structure 1 the two transistors Tl and T2 are connected one to the other with the emitter El of the first transistor Tl connected to the base B2 of the second transistor T2 and with common collectors Cl and C2 terminals. So, if we should look at the Darlington structure 1 as a single electronic device, the common collectors Cl and C2 correspond to the collector terminal C of the whole structure; the base Bl of the first transistor Tl is the base terminal B of the whole structure while the emitter terminal E2 of - the second transistor is the emitter of the whole structure 1. Looking at figure 1 it may be appreciated that the terminal B, C and E correspond to the terminal of a single bipolar transistor and the whole portion included inside the dotted line may be considered a single power transistor.
The collector terminal C is normally coupled to a voltage supply reference. Advantageously, according to the present invention, a resistance R is connected between the collector terminal C and the base terminal B of the Darlington structure 1 ; the resistance R is integrated in the same chip.
In this manner it's possible to feed a direct driving current on the base B of the Darlington structure 1 to force a normally ON status. Preferably the resistance R is a high voltage type, that is to say it is suitable to withstand high voltage values between its terminals. This resistance may be integrated according to what disclosed in the US patent No. 5,053,743.
Moreover, always according to the present invention, an electronic device 3, a SCR thyristor device, is connected between the base B and the emitter E of the Darlington structure 1.
The thyristor device 3 is realised in a four-layer PNPN structur ,. that will be disclosed after.
The Darlington structure 1, the resistance R and the SCR thyristor device 3 are integrated into the same semiconductor material portion and form a monolithic integrated circuit.
Moreover, the structure 1 may be manufactured even with an Emitter Switching (E.S) technology. For instance, with this technology both the emitter E and the base B are realised with buried layers and contact sinker wells, as shown in figure 2.
In the original structure of an Emitter Switching device there are other layers, not shown in figure 2 since conventional, that are used to form the thyristor device SCR.
The Darlington structure 1 according to the present invention may be considered integrating also the driving circuit. In other words, the driving circuit of the Darlington configuration is so simplified if compared to know " solutions that with a simple pulse signal on the gate terminal of the thyristor 3 SCR it's possible to establish a short circuit between the base B and the emitter E thus turning off the Darlington configuration. A very simple circuit is required to apply the more suitable current pulse to the gate terminal of the thyristor.
Now, with particular reference to the example of figures 3 to 6, various manufacturing process steps will be disclosed for realising the structure 1 according to the invention, for instance as shown in figure 1.
The process phases and the structures hereinafter disclosed do not form a complete process flow for manufacturing an integrated circuit since the present invention may be reduced to practice together with manufacturing techniques actually used in the ICs field; thus only the process phases that are useful for implementing the invention are disclosed herewith.
The figures that represent cross sections of integrated circuit portions during its manufacturing process are not reproduced in scale but are reproduced to show the most important features of the invention. The inventive process initially provides for a diffusion step. The doping phases and the kind of the diffused regions are always disclosed just as a indicative and non-limitative example since they may be implemented in a dual manner.
Starting from a substrate 4 having an N+ doping at very low resistivity an epitaxial layer 5 is grown. This layer 5 has an N- type doping and a resistivity and thickness corresponding to the voltage level that the structure 1 may stand as a whole.
This epitaxial layer 5 may or may not contain an optional energy layer. A first buried layer 6 (P-BL) is then realised to form the base B of the first transistor Tl and so of the Darlington structure 1.
After the implant and the diffusion step of the buried layer 6 P-BL a thermal oxide layer is formed on the surface; an aperture is defined through this oxide layer to realise, by a photolithography technique, a second buried layer 7 (N-BL) allowing to obtain the emitter E2 of the second transistor T2 of the Darlington structure 1.
After having completely removed the surface oxide layer, a second " epitaxial layer 8 is grown having the same resistivity type of the first epitaxial layer 5 but with a thickness of few micron, for instance 4-6 micron, as schematically shown in figure 3.
The process is carried on with a diffusion phase of so-called sinker wells 9, 10, of the P and N type respectively, which are obtained inside the second epitaxial layer 8 and are provided to contact the corresponding base and emitter regions, that is the first 6 and the second buried layer 7.
The sinker diffusion 9, of the P type, is also used to form the anode of the thyristor 3 SCR.
It may be appreciated that in figure 4 the second buried layer is stopped close to such a sinker region 9. The structure shown in figure 4 must be considered as a reduced portion of the whole structure 1 to focus on the semiconductor 'portion that is interested to the formation of the device 3 SCR.
Obviously, at one side of figure 4 there are the first and the second transistors Tl, T2 of the Darlington configuration. The other figures 5 and 6 show an enlarged portion of the same semiconductor material allowing seeing even the Darlington structure.
Further layers 11, 12 are then realised inside said second epitaxial layer 8, between the sinker regions 9, 10.
These layers 11, 12 are obtained by diffusion and are of a P and N+ type respectively. These layers 11, 12 are provided for the P body and N source regions of the thyristor in the Emitter Switching structure.
The layers obtained at the end of this process step provide a PNPN four layers structure as clearly shown in figure 5. More particularly, the P layer 11 is the gate of the thyristor device 3 while the N+ layer 12 is its cathode.
As may be appreciated from figure 5, a P doped well totally embraces the semiconductor area wherein the thyristor SCR is formed. The process proceeds with conventional final phases allowing to define metallic contacts for the various regions previously realised.
After having completed the diffusion process, growing the thermal oxide 16, apertures are defined in this oxide layer to realise the contacts. It's sufficient to deposit a metallic layer 13 for connecting the N+ layer 12 to the emitter sinker region 10 thus connecting the cathode of the thyristor SCR and the emitter E of the structure 1, as shown in figure 6.
In that same figure 6 a gate contact 14 is provided over the P region 11 for the thyristor SCR that also correspond to the base B of the structure 1.
The thyristor area so realised is suitably sized so that the direct voltage drop (Vf) on this component is minor than the voltage drop base-emitter (Vbe) of the structure 1. In this manner an efficient short circuit is realised between the base B and the emitter E.
A second metallic layer 15 is provided to contact the anode of the thyristor 3 SCR and the base B of the Darlington structure 1 with the high voltage resistance R that is connected to the voltage supply reference.
The improved Darlington structure according to the present invention do solves the technical problem and reached various advantages the first of which is given on the fact that, inside a single integrated power circuit, a simple and efficient driving circuit is obtained for the transistor or the transistors Darlington structure.
Moreover, the manufacturing process of this configuration is particularly simple and cheap.
The turning off speed is not very high but this is not a problem for the kind of applications wherein the Darlington structure is integrated.

Claims

c L A M £
1. Improved bipolar transistor structure (1) of the type having conventional base (B), collector (C) and emitter (E) terminals, characterised by comprising an integrated thyristor device (3) SCR between the base (B) and the emitter (E) of the transistor structure.
2. Improved bipolar transistor structure according to claim 1, characterised by further comprising a high voltage resistance (R) integrated between the collector (C) and the base (B) terminals; said collector (C) being connected to a supply voltage reference to keep said transistor structure (1) in a normally ON status.
3. Improved bipolar transistor structure according to claim 2, characterised by being integrated into a Darlington transistors configuration with said resistance between the collector (C) and the base (B) of one transistor (Tl) and said thyristor (3) SCR between said base (B) and the emitter of the other transistor (T2).
4. Improved bipolar transistor structure according to claim 1, characterised in that it's obtained by an Emitter Switching technology with buried regions for said base (B) and emitter (E) and corresponding contact sinker regions (9, 10).
5. Improved bipolar transistor structure according to claim 1, characterised in that thyristor (3) is a PNPN type with a four layers structure.
6. Improved bipolar transistor structure according to claim 1, characterised in that said resistance (R) and said thyristor (3) SCR form a driving circuit for said transistor structure (1).
7. Improved bipolar transistor structure according to claim 6, characterised in that said driving circuit is enabled for the turning off phase by applying a current pulse signal on the gate terminal of said thyristor (3).
8. Manufacturing process for an integrated bipolar transistor structure (1) according to claim 1, characterised by providing, on a semiconductor substrate (4) with a corresponding epitaxial layer (5), the following phases: - forming a first (6) and a second buried layer (7) for corresponding base (B) and emitter (E) regions of said structure (lj, the second layer (7) overlapping said first layer (6);
- forming a second epitaxial layer (8) over said buried layers (6, 7); - forming corresponding sinker regions (9, 10) through said second epitaxial layer (8) for independently contacting said buried layers (6, 7), one (9) of said regions being the anode of said thyristor (3) SCR.
9. Process according to claim 8 wherein said sinker regions (9, 10), in said second epitaxial layer, are obtained, one inside the other, to form a base region (11) and a cathode region (12) for said thyristor device
(3).
10. Process according to claim 8 wherein said cathode region (12) of the thyristor (3) is connected to a sinker region (10) of the emitter (E) through a metallisation layer (13).
PCT/IT2002/000123 2002-02-28 2002-02-28 Bipolar transistor structure WO2003073509A1 (en)

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PCT/IT2002/000123 WO2003073509A1 (en) 2002-02-28 2002-02-28 Bipolar transistor structure
AU2002241256A AU2002241256A1 (en) 2002-02-28 2002-02-28 Bipolar transistor structure
EP02707105A EP1479108A1 (en) 2002-02-28 2002-02-28 Bipolar transistor structure
CNB028283805A CN100390996C (en) 2002-02-28 2002-02-28 Bipolar transistor structure

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PCT/IT2002/000123 WO2003073509A1 (en) 2002-02-28 2002-02-28 Bipolar transistor structure

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US4142115A (en) * 1975-12-12 1979-02-27 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Semiconductor device with a thermal protective device
EP0560185A1 (en) * 1992-03-07 1993-09-15 TEMIC TELEFUNKEN microelectronic GmbH Power voltage limiting circuit

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CN1623233A (en) 2005-06-01

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