Surface Effects on p-n Junctions

The greatly improved understanding of thermally oxidized silicon surfaces has led to a much clearer picture of the effects of the surface on the characteristics of p-n junctions. This paper reviews recent work in this area. The effect of surface fields on the current-voltage characteristics of p-n junctions and junction transistors is considered. It is shown that changes in these characteristics can be due to: (i) recombination-generation at the oxide-silicon interface; (ii) breakdown -- avalanche or Zener -- of the junction between inversion layer and the interior of the semiconductor induced by the incident surface fields; and (iii) modulation of the breakdown voltage of the metallurgical junction. The implications of these phenomena on the reliability of junction devices is discussed.