SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES HAVING A LOW MINORITY CARRIER LIFETIME AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING SAME

摘要

Silicon diodes and silicon controlled rectifiers are provided with reduced minority carrier lifetimes without a significant increase in forward voltage drop or reverse leakage current by means of a gadolinium dopant which is diffused into the semiconductor wafers after first being applied on one face thereof by means of a conventional sputtering process. Gadolinium is sputtered onto the base side of the rectifiers from a foil of the pure metal in a vacuum. The wafers are then placed in a furnace at a temperature above 820 DEG C where the diffusion process takes place.