Patents by Inventor Johannes Georg Laven

Johannes Georg Laven has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20210313460
    Abstract: A power semiconductor switch includes an active cell region with a drift region, an edge termination region, and IGBT cells within the active cell region. Each IGBT cell includes trenches that extend into the drift region and laterally confine mesas. At least one control trench has a control electrode for controlling the load current. At least one dummy trench has a dummy electrode electrically coupled to the control electrode. At least one further trench has a further trench electrode. At least one active mesa is electrically connected to a first load terminal within the active cell region. Each control trench is arranged adjacent to no more than one active mesa. At least one inactive mesa is adjacent to the dummy trench. A cross-trench structure merges each control trench, dummy trench and further trench to each other. The cross-trench structure overlaps at least partially along a vertical direction with the trenches.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2021
    Publication date: October 7, 2021
    Inventors: Matteo Dainese, Alexander Philippou, Markus Beninger-Bina, Ingo Dirnstorfer, Erich Griebl, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Caspar Leendertz, Frank Dieter Pfirsch
  • Patent number: 11133303
    Abstract: An embodiment of a semiconductor device includes a plurality of transistor sections separated from each other and a plurality of diode sections separated from each other. Each transistor section includes an emitter electrode and a collector electrode. Each diode section includes an anode electrode and a cathode electrode. Each transistor section is electrically coupled to a common gate pad. A ratio between an active transistor part and an active diode part of the semiconductor device is adjustable by activating a first number of the transistor sections by selectively contacting the emitter electrodes and the collector electrodes of the first number of transistor sections, and by activating a second number of the diode sections by selectively contacting the anode electrodes and the cathode electrodes of the second number of diode sections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Christian Robert Mueller, Stefan Buschhorn, Johannes Georg Laven
  • Patent number: 11133380
    Abstract: A power semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body coupled to first and second load terminals. The body includes: at least a diode structure configured to conduct a load current between the terminals and including an anode port electrically connected to the first load terminal and a cathode port electrically connected to the second load terminal; and drift and field stop regions of the same conductivity type. The cathode port includes first port sections and second port sections with dopants of the opposite conductivity type. A transition between each of the second port sections and the field stop region forms a respective pn-junction that extends along a first lateral direction. A diffusion voltage of a respective one of the pn-junctions in an extension direction perpendicular to the first lateral direction is greater than a lateral voltage drop laterally overlapping with the lateral extension of the respective pn-junction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Roman Baburske, Philip Christoph Brandt, Johannes Georg Laven
  • Publication number: 20210272843
    Abstract: A power semiconductor device includes: first and second trenches extending from a surface of a semiconductor body along a vertical direction and laterally confining a mesa region along a first lateral direction; source and body regions in the mesa region electrically connected to a first load terminal; and a first insulation layer having a plurality of insulation blocks, two of which laterally confine a contact hole. The first load terminal extends into the contact hole to contact the source and body regions at the mesa region surface. A first insulation block laterally overlaps with the first trench. A second insulation block laterally overlaps with the second trench. The first insulation block has a first lateral concentration profile of a first implantation material of the source region along the first lateral direction that is different from a corresponding second lateral concentration profile for the second insulation block.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 20, 2021
    Publication date: September 2, 2021
    Inventors: Markus Beninger-Bina, Matteo Dainese, Ingo Dirnstorfer, Erich Griebl, Johannes Georg Laven, Anton Mauder, Hans-Joachim Schulze
  • Patent number: 11081481
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a body layer arranged between a front side and a drift layer, and forming a pn-junction with the drift layer. A front metallization is on the front side in Ohmic connection with the body layer, and a back metallization opposite is in Ohmic connection with the drift layer. An IGBT cell region of the device includes a plurality of gate electrodes in Ohmic connection with a gate metallization. Each gate electrode is electrically insulated from the semiconductor substrate by a respective gate dielectric extending through the body layer. A free-wheeling diode region of the device includes a plurality of field electrodes in Ohmic connection with the front metallization. Each field electrode is separated from the semiconductor substrate by a respective field dielectric extending through the body layer. Additional semiconductor device embodiments are described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventor: Johannes Georg Laven
  • Patent number: 11075290
    Abstract: A power semiconductor device includes an active region surrounded by an inactive termination region each formed by part of a semiconductor body. The active region conducts load current between first and second load terminals. At least one power cell has trenches extending into the semiconductor body adjacent to each other along a first lateral direction and having a stripe configuration that extends along a second lateral direction into the active region. The trenches spatially confine a plurality of mesas each having at least one first type mesa electrically connected to the first load terminal and configured to conduct at least a part of the load current, and at least one second type mesa configured to not conduct the load current. A decoupling structure separates at least one of the second type mesas into a first section in the active region and a second section in the termination region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignees: Infineon Technologies AG, Infineon Technologies Dresden GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Matteo Dainese, Alexander Philippou, Markus Bina, Ingo Dirnstorfer, Erich Griebl, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Caspar Leendertz, Frank Dieter Pfirsch
  • Publication number: 20210210604
    Abstract: An power semiconductor device having a barrier region is provided. A power unit cell of the power semiconductor device has at least two trenches that may both extend into the barrier region. The at least two trenches may both have a respective trench electrode coupled to a control terminal of the power semiconductor device. For example, the trench electrodes are structured to reduce the total gate charge of the power semiconductor device. The barrier region may be p-doped and vertically confined, i.e., in and against the extension direction, by the drift region. The barrier region can be electrically floating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2021
    Publication date: July 8, 2021
    Inventors: Alexander Philippou, Roman Baburske, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Helmut Maeckel
  • Patent number: 11018051
    Abstract: A method includes: forming trenches extending from a surface along a vertical direction into a semiconductor body, facing trench sidewalls of two adjacent trenches laterally confining a mesa region of the semiconductor body along a first lateral direction; forming a body region in the mesa region, a surface of the body region in the mesa region at least partially forming the semiconductor body surface; forming a first insulation layer on the semiconductor body surface; subjecting the semiconductor body region to a tilted source implantation using at least one contact hole in the first insulation layer at least partially as a mask for forming a semiconductor source region in the mesa region. The tilted source implantation is tilted from the vertical direction by an angle of at least 10°. The semiconductor source region extends for no more than 80% of a width of the mesa region along the first lateral direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Dresden GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Markus Beninger-Bina, Matteo Dainese, Ingo Dirnstorfer, Erich Griebl, Johannes Georg Laven, Anton Mauder, Hans-Joachim Schulze
  • Patent number: 10978560
    Abstract: A power semiconductor device having a barrier region is provided. A power unit cell of the power semiconductor device has at least two trenches that may both extend into the barrier region. The at least two trenches may both have a respective trench electrode coupled to a control terminal of the power semiconductor device. For example, the trench electrodes are structured to reduce the total gate charge of the power semiconductor device. The barrier region may be p-doped and vertically confined, i.e., in and against the extension direction, by the drift region. The barrier region can be electrically floating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander Philippou, Roman Baburske, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Helmut Maeckel
  • Publication number: 20210083081
    Abstract: An RC IGBT with an n-barrier region in a transition section between a diode section and an IGBT section is presented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2020
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Inventors: Johannes Georg Laven, Roman Baburske, Frank Dieter Pfirsch, Alexander Philippou, Christian Philipp Sandow
  • Publication number: 20210083051
    Abstract: A power device includes: a diode section; a semiconductor body; a drift region extending into the diode section; trenches in the diode section and extending along a vertical direction into the semiconductor body, two adjacent trenches defining a respective mesa portion in the semiconductor body; a body region in the mesa portions; in the diode section, a barrier region between the body and drift regions and having a dopant concentration at least 100 times greater than an average dopant concentration of the drift region and a dopant dose greater than that of the body region. The barrier region has a lateral structure according to which at least 50% of the body region in the diode section is coupled to the drift region at least by the barrier region, and at least 5% of the body region in the diode section is coupled to the drift region without the barrier region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2020
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Inventors: Johannes Georg Laven, Roman Baburske, Alexander Philippou, Christian Philipp Sandow
  • Patent number: 10930772
    Abstract: An IGBT having a barrier region is presented. A power unit cell of the IGBT has at least two trenches that may both extend into the barrier region. The barrier region may be p-doped and vertically confined, i.e., in and against the extension direction, by means of the drift region. The barrier region can be electrically floating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander Philippou, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Antonio Vellei
  • Publication number: 20210050436
    Abstract: A method of processing a power semiconductor device includes: providing a semiconductor body with a drift region of a first conductivity type; forming a plurality of trenches extending into the semiconductor body along a vertical direction and arranged adjacent to each other along a first lateral direction; providing a mask arrangement at the semiconductor body, the mask arrangement having a lateral structure according to which some of the trenches are exposed and at least one of the trenches is covered by the mask arrangement along the first lateral direction; forming, below bottoms of the exposed trenches, a plurality of doping regions of a second conductivity type complementary to the first conductivity type; removing the mask arrangement; and extending the plurality of doping regions in parallel to the first lateral direction such that the plurality of doping regions overlap and form a barrier region of the second conductivity type adjacent to the bottoms of the exposed trenches.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 3, 2020
    Publication date: February 18, 2021
    Inventors: Antonio Vellei, Markus Beninger-Bina, Matteo Dainese, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Alexander Philippou, Francisco Javier Santos Rodriguez
  • Publication number: 20210043759
    Abstract: A power semiconductor device includes an active cell region with a drift region of a first conductivity type, a plurality of IGBT cells arranged within the active cell region, each of the IGBT cells includes at least one trench that extends into the drift, an edge termination region surrounding the active cell region, a transition region arranged between the active cell region and the edge termination region, at least some of the IGBT cells are arranged within or extend into the transition region, a barrier region of a second conductivity type, the barrier region is arranged within the active cell region and in contact with at least some of the trenches of the IGBT cells and does not extend into the transition region, and a first load terminal and a second load terminal, the power semiconductor device is configured to conduct a load current along a vertical direction between.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2020
    Publication date: February 11, 2021
    Inventors: Alexander Philippou, Markus Beninger-Bina, Matteo Dainese, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Francisco Javier Santos Rodriguez, Antonio Vellei, Caspar Leendertz, Christian Philipp Sandow
  • Patent number: 10910487
    Abstract: A power semiconductor device is disclosed. In one example, the device comprises a semiconductor body coupled to a first load terminal and a second load terminal and comprising a drift region configured to conduct a load current between said terminals. The drift region comprises dopants of a first conductivity type. A source region is arranged in electrical contact with the first load terminal and comprises dopants of the first conductivity type. A channel region comprises dopants of a second conductivity. At least one power unit cell that includes at least one first type trench. The at least one power unit cell further includes a first mesa zone and a second mesa zone of the semiconductor body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander Philippou, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Max Christian Seifert, Antonio Vellei
  • Patent number: 10903344
    Abstract: According to an embodiment of a semiconductor device, the semiconductor device includes a semiconductor mesa having source zones arranged along a longitudinal axis of the semiconductor mesa and at least one body zone forming first pn junctions with the source zones and a second pn junction with a drift zone. The semiconductor device further includes stripe-shaped electrode structures on opposite sides of the semiconductor mesa and separation regions between neighboring ones of the source zones. At least one of the electrode structures includes a gate electrode. In the separation regions, at least one of (i) a capacitive coupling between the gate electrode and the semiconductor mesa and (ii) a conductivity of majority charge carriers of the drift zone is lower than outside of the separation regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Roman Baburske, Matteo Dainese, Peter Lechner, Hans-Joachim Schulze, Johannes Georg Laven
  • Patent number: 10886909
    Abstract: An electric assembly includes an insulated gate bipolar transistor device, a wide-bandgap transistor device electrically connected in parallel with the bipolar transistor device and a control circuit. The control circuit is electrically coupled to a gate terminal of the bipolar transistor device and to a control terminal of the wide-bandgap transistor device. The control circuit is configured to turn on the bipolar transistor device and to turn on the wide-bandgap transistor device at a predefined turn-on delay with respect to a turn-on of the bipolar transistor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Roman Baburske, Johannes Georg Laven, Thomas Basler
  • Publication number: 20200388612
    Abstract: An embodiment of a semiconductor device includes a plurality of transistor sections separated from each other and a plurality of diode sections separated from each other. Each transistor section includes an emitter electrode and a collector electrode. Each diode section includes an anode electrode and a cathode electrode. Each transistor section is electrically coupled to a common gate pad. A ratio between an active transistor part and an active diode part of the semiconductor device is adjustable by activating a first number of the transistor sections by selectively contacting the emitter electrodes and the collector electrodes of the first number of transistor sections, and by activating a second number of the diode sections by selectively contacting the anode electrodes and the cathode electrodes of the second number of diode sections.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2020
    Publication date: December 10, 2020
    Inventors: Christian Robert Mueller, Stefan Buschhorn, Johannes Georg Laven
  • Patent number: 10854739
    Abstract: A power semiconductor device includes: a drift region; a plurality of IGBT cells each having a plurality of trenches extending into the drift region along a vertical direction and laterally confining at least one active mesa which includes an upper section of the drift region; and an electrically floating barrier region of an opposite conductivity type as the drift region and spatially confined, in and against the vertical direction, by the drift region. A total volume of all active mesas is divided into first and second shares, the first share not laterally overlapping with the barrier region and the second share laterally overlapping with the barrier region. The first share carries the load current at least within a range of 0% to 100% of a nominal load current. The second share carries the load current if the load current exceeds at least 0.5% of the nominal load current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Antonio Vellei, Markus Beninger-Bina, Matteo Dainese, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Alexander Philippou, Francisco Javier Santos Rodriguez
  • Patent number: 10840362
    Abstract: A power semiconductor device includes an active cell region with a drift region, and IGBT cells at least partially arranged within the active cell region. Each IGBT cell includes at least one trench extending into the drift region along a vertical direction, an edge termination region surrounding the active cell region, and a transition region arranged between the active cell region and the edge termination region. The transition region has a width along a lateral direction from the active cell region towards the edge termination region. At least some of the IGBT cells are arranged within, or, respectively, extend into the transition region. An electrically floating barrier region of each IGBT cell is arranged within the active cell region and in contact with at least some of the trenches of the IGBT cells. The electrically floating barrier region does not extend into the transition region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Alexander Philippou, Markus Bina, Matteo Dainese, Christian Jaeger, Johannes Georg Laven, Francisco Javier Santos Rodriguez, Antonio Vellei, Caspar Leendertz, Christian Philipp Sandow