A Lateral Regulator Diode with Field Plates for Light-Emitting-Diode Lighting

A lateral current regulator diode (CRD) with field plates is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed CRD is based on the junction field-effect transistor (JFET) structure. A cathode field plate is adopted to alleviate the channel-length modulation effect and to improve the saturated I—V characteristics. An anode field plate is induced to achieve a high breakdown voltage VB of the CRD. The influence of the key device parameters on the I—V characteristics of the lateral CRD are discussed. Experimental results show that the proposed CRD presents good I—V characteristics with a high VB about 180 V and a low knee voltage (Vk) below 3 V. Furthermore, the proposed CRD has a negative temperature coefficient. The well characteristic of the proposed CRD makes it a cost-effective solution for light-emitting-diode lighting.