{"title":"Guard Ring Designs on Photovoltaic Energy Harvesting Silicon LSIs","authors":"Takaya Sugiura;Yuta Watanabe","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3554315","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This study explores strategies for safeguarding complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) field-effect-transistors (FETs) and PN-diode against bulk carrier contamination for energy harvesting applications. Energy harvesting processes can generate excessive carriers within the bulk region, which can penetrate the PMOS region from the p(P-Sub)/n(NWell) junction or <sc>nmosfet</small> without triple-well. To address this problem, this study investigated the effectiveness of a guard ring structure in protecting <sc>cmosfet</small>s and PN-diode by recombining carriers in their vicinities. The formation of unpassivated metals around <sc>cmosfet</small>s serves as a catalyst for carrier elimination before they penetrate the NWell region of a <sc>pmosfet</small> or the <sc>nmosfet</small> itself, thereby improving the <sc>off</small> states of both FETs. For a PN diode, the smaller off-current and lower threshold voltage obtained are advantageous for low-power consumption. However, such guard ring also degrades the performance of a photovoltaic (PV) cell by recombining the carriers needed by the cell to generate power. The experimental study of PV cells w/back-surface-field (BSF) and w/o BSF revealed that the former reduced the <inline-formula><tex-math>$V_{\\text{OC}}$</tex-math></inline-formula> of the cell with and that caution is required when forming a guard ring nearby the PV cell.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"15 3","pages":"420-426"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10953864/","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENERGY & FUELS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study explores strategies for safeguarding complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) field-effect-transistors (FETs) and PN-diode against bulk carrier contamination for energy harvesting applications. Energy harvesting processes can generate excessive carriers within the bulk region, which can penetrate the PMOS region from the p(P-Sub)/n(NWell) junction or nmosfet without triple-well. To address this problem, this study investigated the effectiveness of a guard ring structure in protecting cmosfets and PN-diode by recombining carriers in their vicinities. The formation of unpassivated metals around cmosfets serves as a catalyst for carrier elimination before they penetrate the NWell region of a pmosfet or the nmosfet itself, thereby improving the off states of both FETs. For a PN diode, the smaller off-current and lower threshold voltage obtained are advantageous for low-power consumption. However, such guard ring also degrades the performance of a photovoltaic (PV) cell by recombining the carriers needed by the cell to generate power. The experimental study of PV cells w/back-surface-field (BSF) and w/o BSF revealed that the former reduced the $V_{\text{OC}}$ of the cell with and that caution is required when forming a guard ring nearby the PV cell.
期刊介绍:
The IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics is a peer-reviewed, archival publication reporting original and significant research results that advance the field of photovoltaics (PV). The PV field is diverse in its science base ranging from semiconductor and PV device physics to optics and the materials sciences. The journal publishes articles that connect this science base to PV science and technology. The intent is to publish original research results that are of primary interest to the photovoltaic specialist. The scope of the IEEE J. Photovoltaics incorporates: fundamentals and new concepts of PV conversion, including those based on nanostructured materials, low-dimensional physics, multiple charge generation, up/down converters, thermophotovoltaics, hot-carrier effects, plasmonics, metamorphic materials, luminescent concentrators, and rectennas; Si-based PV, including new cell designs, crystalline and non-crystalline Si, passivation, characterization and Si crystal growth; polycrystalline, amorphous and crystalline thin-film solar cell materials, including PV structures and solar cells based on II-VI, chalcopyrite, Si and other thin film absorbers; III-V PV materials, heterostructures, multijunction devices and concentrator PV; optics for light trapping, reflection control and concentration; organic PV including polymer, hybrid and dye sensitized solar cells; space PV including cell materials and PV devices, defects and reliability, environmental effects and protective materials; PV modeling and characterization methods; and other aspects of PV, including modules, power conditioning, inverters, balance-of-systems components, monitoring, analyses and simulations, and supporting PV module standards and measurements. Tutorial and review papers on these subjects are also published and occasionally special issues are published to treat particular areas in more depth and breadth.