Two-terminal vertical thyristor using Schottky contact emitter to improve thermal instability

Abstract

In a two-terminal-electrode vertical thyristor, the latch-up and latch-down voltages are decreased when the memory operation temperature of the memory cells increases, resulting in a severe reliability issue (i.e. thermal instability). This study fundamentally solves the thermal instability of a vertical-thyristor by achieving a cross-point memory-cell array using a vertical-thyristor with a structure of vertical n(++)-emitter, p(+)-base, n(+)-base, and p(++)-emitter. The vertical-thyristor using a Schottky contact metal emitter instead of an n(++)-Si emitter significantly improves the thermal stability between 293 K and 373 K. Particularly, the improvement degree of the thermal stability is increased significantly with the use of the Schottky contact metal work function. Because the thermal instability (i.e. degree of latch-up voltage decrement vs. memory operation temperature) decreases with an increase in the Schottky contact metal work function, the dependency of the forward current density between the Schottky contact metal and p(+)-Si based on the memory operation temperature reduces with increase in the Schottky contact metal work function. Consequently, a higher Schottky contact metal work function produces a higher degree of improvement in the thermal stability, i.e. W (4.50 eV), Ti (4.33 eV), Ta (4.25 eV), and Al (4.12 eV). Further research on the fabrication process of a Schottky contact metal emitter vertical-thyristor is essential for the fabrication of a 3D cross-point memory-cell.