Demonstration and Analysis of Ultrahigh Forward Current Density Diamond Diodes

A diamond Schottky p-i-n diode (SPIND) with the highest reported current density to date of ~116 kA/cm 2 is demonstrated, carrying a total current of ~1.32 A through a 50-\mu \text {m} wide pseudo-vertical diode structure. The diamond SPIND also provides a maximum power handling capacity of {1.85}~ \text {MW/c}\text {m}^{{2}} and a low specific ON-resistance {R}_{ \mathrm{ON}}S of {0.05}~ \text {m}\Omega \cdot \text {cm}^{{{2}}} at a forward bias of ~16 V. The diamond Schottky p-i-n (SPIN) diode also shows excellent rectification characteristics with a current ON- OFF-ratio of \sim {6} \times {10}^{{12}} . An analytical model including thermionic emission and space charge limited (SCL) current is presented together with Silvaco ATLAS Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) simulations to accurately reproduce the experimental {J} - {V} characteristics using multiple single-trap levels and other physical models emulating a real device. Theoretical calculations from the analytical model show that further improvement in the device turn on voltage and {R}_{ \mathrm{ON}}{S} can be achieved by reducing the defect density and contact resistance in order to approach the ultimate performance in the Mott-Gurney SCL current regime.