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A Schottky barrier diode (SBD) is a device in which a semiconductor and a metal such as molybdenum are bonded instead of a pn junction. In general, semiconductors in which metals are bonded to n-type layers have been commercialized. It is suitable for high-speed switching applications, because of small forward voltage and short reverse recovery time.
For the SBD there is a tradeoff between forward voltage (VF) and reverse leakage current.
Depending on the metal used, in general, the reverse withstand voltage is about 20 to 150 V and the VF is about 0.4 to 0.7 V, which is lower than that of the pn junction diode.
SBDs with a new structure with low forward voltage but low leakage current have also been commercialized.
(Toshiba has achieved low VF and low leakage current characteristics by adopting a trench structure for SBD. )