Patent ID: 7042046

Claim:
A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor chip having a first major surface and a second major surface opposing the first major surface; an active region on a side of the first major surface; a layer of a first conductivity type on a side of the second major surface, the layer of the first conductivity type exhibiting relatively low electrical resistance; a first main electrode electrically connected to the active region; a second main electrode electrically connected to the layer of the first conductivity type; a drain drift region between the active region and the layer of the first conductivity type, the drain drift region providing a vertical drift current path in the ON-state of the device and being depleted in the OFF-state of the device; and a breakdown withstanding region around the drain drift region and between the first major surface and the layer of the first conductivity type, wherein the breakdown withstanding region substantially does not provide any current path in the ON-state of the device and is depleted in the OFF-state of the device, wherein the breakdown withstanding region comprises an alternating conductivity type layer comprising first regions of the first conductivity type and second regions of a second conductivity type arranged alternately with each other, and wherein the breakdown withstanding region further includes a surrounding region of the first conductivity type extending in a thickness direction of the semiconductor chip and around the alternating conductivity type layer, wherein the drain drift region comprises an alternating conductivity type layer comprising vertical drift current path regions of the first conductivity type and vertical partition regions of the second conductivity type, wherein the drift current path regions and the partition regions extend in the thickness direction of the semiconductor chip, wherein the drift current path regions and the partition regions are arranged alternately with each other, and wherein the width of the surrounding region is wider than the width of the drift current path region.