Reverse Recovery Behavior in Vertical Diamond Schottky Diodes

As an ultra-wide-bandgap material, diamond is an extremely attractive semiconductor for power electronic applications. The switching behavior in devices for power applications should be investigated to reduce significant energy losses. In this study, we have investigated the switching behavior in a vertical diamond Schottky barrier diode. The reverse recovery time was measured to be ~4–7 ns on average depending on the clamped inductive switching test setup. The diode was switched from a conducting current of as much as 948 A/cm2 to a blocking field up to 0.6 MV/cm. Very short reverse recovery times in addition to minimal changes in response to differing levels of on-state current, switching frequency, and temperature indicate a majority carrier diamond device as expected.