On the degradation of field-plate assisted RESURF power devices

Hot-carrier degradation phenomena in field-plate assisted reduced surface field (RESURF) devices caused by high voltage off- and on-state stressing have been investigated. The device I-V characteristics are analyzed and modeled in detail. It is shown that via noninvasive low-voltage leakage characterization the surface generation velocity profiles after (high-voltage) stress can be extracted, enabling I-V degradation predictions across wide temperature ranges.