Mesa type thyristor and its making method

Claim 1

A mesa-type thyristor comprising: a silicon substrate of a first conductivity type having upper and lower principal surfaces respectively on opposite sides of said substrate and a peripheral surface surroundingly extending between said principal surfaces, said substrate further having a pair of spaced mesa-etched surfaces on said peripheral surface encircling said substrate, mesa-etched said mesa-etched surfaces having outer peripheral edges respectively at said principal surfaces and extending respectively from said principal surfaces generally toward each other to a predetermined extent to define respective inner peripheral edges spaced apart a given distance, a pair of first regions of a second conductivity type, opposite said first conductivity type, respectively on said upper and lower principal surfaces for forming PN junctions therewith, a plurality of additional regions of said first conductivity type formed in said first regions, electrodes disposed in contact with at least said additional regions, and a pair of spaced electrodeless semiconductor ring regions of said first conductivity type and having an impurity concentration higher than that of said substrate, said ring regions being only in contact with and formed around said substrate in said peripheral surface and heightwise respectively extending from the said inner peripheral edges of said mesa-etched surfaces toward each other a distance substantially less than said given distance so as to expose between said rings a portion of said substrate which isolates said rings by providing high resistance relative to said rings and hence high breakdown voltage along said peripheral surface and for preventing PN junction leakage current by said ring regions effectively preventing the linking of an inversion layer across said PN junctions.