Potential of high-k dielectrics for lateral power and high voltage devices

Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology based on high-k dielectrics is proposed for the first time in order to improve the trade-off between specific on-state resistance (R/sub on,sp/) and breakdown voltage of unipolar lateral high voltage devices. Numerical simulations show that for breakdown voltages between 250-30OV, R/sub on,sp/ improves by 70% while the breakdown voltage (BV) falls by only 25% when k is increased by over 6X. For a fixed breakdown voltage (300 V and 600 V), R/sub on,sp/ improves by 36% when k is increased by 3X. The improvement in R/sub on,sp/ and higher thermal conductivity of high-k dielectrics in comparison to SiO/sub 2/ can reduce self-heating effects significantly in HVIC applications.