A comparative study of surge current reliability of 1200 V/5 A 4H-SiC (silicon carbide) MPS (Merged PiN Schottky) diodes with different technologies is presented. The influences of device designs in terms of electrical and thermal aspects on the forward conduction performance and surge current capability were studied. Device forward characteristics were simulated and measured. Standard single-pulse surge current tests and thermal impedance measurements were carried to show their surge capability and thermal design differences. An advanced thermal RC (thermal resistance-capacitance) model, with the consideration of current distribution non-uniformity effects, is proposed to accurately calculate the device junction temperature during surge events. It was found that a thinner substrate and a hexagonal layout design are beneficial to the improvement of the bipolar conduction performance in high current mode, as well as the surge current capability. The thinner substrate design also has advantages on thermal aspects, as it presents the lowest thermal resistance. The calculated failure temperature during the surge tests is consistent with the aluminum melting phenomenon, which is regarded as the failure mechanism. It was demonstrated that, for a SiC MPS diode, higher bipolar conduction performance is conducive to restraining the joule heat, and a lower thermal resistance design is able to accelerate the heat dissipation and limit the junction temperature during surge events. In this way, the MPS diode using a thinner substrate and advanced layout design technology is able to achieve 60% higher surge current density capability compared to the other technologies.
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