Temperature Dependent Transient Threshold Voltage Hysteresis in SiC Power MOSFETs and Implications for Short Circuit Events

This article provides a detailed study of performance and reliability issues and trade-offs in silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs. The reliability issues such as threshold voltage variation across devices from the same vendor, instability of threshold voltage under positive and negative gate bias, long-term reliability of gate oxide, screening of devices with extrinsic defects by means of gate voltage, body diode degradation, and short circuit withstand time are investigated through testing of commercial devices from different vendors and two-dimensional simulations. Price roadmap and foundry models of SiC MOSFETs are discussed. Future development of mixed-mode CMOS circuits with high voltage lateral MOSFETs along with 4−6× higher power handling capability compared to silicon circuits has been described.

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Influence of the Threshold Voltage Hysteresis and the Drain Induced Barrier Lowering on the Dynamic Transfer Characteristic of SiC Power MOSFETs

2019 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC) ◽

10.1109/apec.2019.8721772 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Patrick Hofstetter ◽

Robert W. Maier ◽

Mark-M. Bakran

Keyword(s):

Threshold Voltage ◽

Transfer Characteristic ◽

Power Mosfets ◽

Voltage Hysteresis

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Temperature-Dependent Short-Circuit Capability of Silicon Carbide Power MOSFETs

IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics ◽

10.1109/tpel.2015.2416358 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 1555-1566 ◽

Cited By ~ 97

Author(s):

Zhiqiang Wang ◽

Xiaojie Shi ◽

Leon M. Tolbert ◽

Fred Wang ◽

Zhenxian Liang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Silicon Carbide ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Temperature Dependent ◽

Power Mosfets

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Critical Technical Issues in High Voltage SiC Power Devices

Materials Science Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.600-603.895 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 600-603 ◽

pp. 895-900 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Anant K. Agarwal ◽

Albert A. Burk ◽

Robert Callanan ◽

Craig Capell ◽

Mrinal K. Das ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Threshold Voltage ◽

Carrier Mobility ◽

Negative Charge ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Power Devices ◽

Power Mosfets ◽

Large Numbers ◽

Technical Issues ◽

The Difference ◽

Difficult Issue

In this paper, we review the state of the art of SiC switches and the technical issues which remain. Specifically, we will review the progress and remaining challenges associated with SiC power MOSFETs and BJTs. The most difficult issue when fabricating MOSFETs has been an excessive variation in threshold voltage from batch to batch. This difficulty arises due to the fact that the threshold voltage is determined by the difference between two large numbers, namely, a large fixed oxide charge and a large negative charge in the interface traps. There may also be some significant charge captured in the bulk traps in SiC and SiO2. The effect of recombination-induced stacking faults (SFs) on majority carrier mobility has been confirmed with 10 kV Merged PN Schottky (MPS) diodes and MOSFETs. The same SFs have been found to be responsible for degradation of BJTs.

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