Floating metal rings (FMR), a novel high-voltage blocking technique

Floating Metal Rings (FMR), a novel high-voltage blocking technique, is proposed. Its feasibility has been demonstrated using a 600- V wide-base Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT). The new technique supercedes the diffused guard ring approach to increasing junction breakdown. Half the semiconductor surface area is required with FMR technique compared to the diffused guard ring to achieve the same 600-V blocking voltage.