In a general aspect, an apparatus can include a silicon carbide (SiC) trench gate MOSFET with improved operation due, at least in part, to a reduced gate capacitance. In the SiC trench gate MOSFET, a thick gate oxide can be formed on a bottom surface of the gate trench and a built-in channel, having a vertical portion and a lateral portion, can be formed to electrically connect a vertical inversion-layer channel, such as in a channel stopper layer, to a vertical JFET channel region and a drift region.

A semiconductor switching device includes a first load terminal electrically connected to source zones of transistor cells. The source zones form first pn junctions with body zones. A second load terminal is electrically connected to a drain construction that forms second pn junctions with the body zones. Control structures, which include a control electrode and charge storage structures, directly adjoin the body zones. The control electrode controls a load current through the body zones. The charge storage structures insulate the control electrode from the body zones and contain a control charge adapted to induce inversion channels in the body zones in the absence of a potential difference between the control electrode and the first load electrode.

A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor layer. The entire length of an outer peripheral side among outer peripheral sides of a first gate electrode region and the entire length of an outer peripheral side among outer peripheral sides of a first resistance element region match a portion of an outer peripheral side, among outer peripheral sides of the semiconductor layer, that is orthogonal to a border line and has the shortest distance to a first gate pad. Among four corner portions of an outer periphery of the first gate electrode region, only one corner portion is included in the outer peripheral sides of the first resistance element region, the only one corner portion having the shortest distance to the border line and the shortest distance to an outer peripheral side, among the outer peripheral sides of the semiconductor layer, that is orthogonal to the border line.

A semiconductor device includes, on a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, an active region through which a main current flows, a terminal region surrounding a periphery of the active region, and an intermediate region between the active region and the terminal region. The semiconductor device has, in the active region, a front electrode disposed on a first main surface of the semiconductor substrate and connected to a first semiconductor region of a second conductivity type. In the intermediate region, the semiconductor device has a source ring electrically connected to the front electrode and to a second semiconductor region of the second conductivity type for extracting hole current. A contact between the front electrode in the active region and the first semiconductor region is an ohmic contact. A contact between the source ring in the intermediate region and the second semiconductor region includes a Schottky junction or a heterojunction.

A high voltage trench field plate power MOSFET device is fabricated in a substrate having first and second trenches separated from one another by a narrow epitaxial semiconductor drift pillar structure, where insulated gate electrode layers and insulated field plate layers are formed in the first and second trenches, and where a body well region is formed in an upper portion of the narrow epitaxial semiconductor drift pillar structure to include source contact regions in an active area, and to include an integrated ballast resistor section which connects one or more of the source contact regions to the termination area and which has no source contact regions.

A switching device according to the present invention is a switching device for switching a load by on-off control of voltage, and includes an SiC semiconductor layer where a current path is formed by on-control of the voltage, a first electrode arranged to be in contact with the SiC semiconductor layer, and a second electrode arranged to be in contact with the SiC semiconductor layer for conducting with the first electrode due to the formation of the current path, while the first electrode has a variable resistance portion made of a material whose resistance value increases under a prescribed high-temperature condition for limiting current density of overcurrent to not more than a prescribed value when the overcurrent flows to the current path.

An apparatus includes a drain and a source on opposing sides of an epitaxial layer, a plurality of gates formed in the epitaxial layer, a source contact connected to the source, a gate contact connected to the plurality of gates, a gate-source electrostatic discharge (ESD) diode connected between the gate contact and the source contact, and a breakdown voltage enhancement and leakage prevention structure formed underneath the gate-source ESD diode structure.

A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body having first and second opposing surfaces in a vertical direction, and transistor cells at least partly integrated in the semiconductor body. Each transistor cell includes first and second source regions, first and second body regions, a drift region separated from the respective source region by the corresponding body region, a first gate electrode, and a control electrode. The drift region is arranged between the first and the second body region in a horizontal direction that is perpendicular to the vertical direction and extends from the first surface into the semiconductor body in the vertical direction. The first gate electrode is configured to provide a control signal for switching the transistor cell. The control electrode is configured to provide a control signal for controlling a JFET formed by the first body region, the drift region, and the second body region.

A power semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body coupled to first and second load terminal structures, an active cell field in the body, and a plurality of first and second cells in the active cell field. Each cell is electrically connected to the first load terminal structure and to a drift region. Each first cell includes a mesa having a port region electrically connected to the first load terminal structure, and a channel region coupled to the drift region. Each second cell includes a mesa having a port region of the opposite conductivity type electrically connected to the first load terminal structure, and a channel region coupled to the drift region. Each mesa is spatially confined in a direction perpendicular to a direction of the load current within the respective mesa, by an insulation structure and has a total extension of less than 100 nm in the direction.

An apparatus includes a drain and a source on opposing sides of an epitaxial layer, a plurality of gates formed in the epitaxial layer, a source contact connected to the source, a gate contact connected to the plurality of gates, a gate-source electrostatic discharge (ESD) diode connected between the gate contact and the source contact, and a breakdown voltage enhancement and leakage prevention structure formed underneath the gate-source ESD diode structure.