Silicon offers multiple advantages to power circuit designers, but at the same time suffers from limitations that are inherent to silicon material properties, such as low bandgap energy, low thermal conductivity, and switching frequency limitations. Wide bandgap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), provide larger bandgaps, higher breakdown electric field, and higher thermal conductivity. Power semiconductor devices made with SiC and GaN are capable of higher blocking voltages, higher switching frequencies, and higher junction temperatures than silicon devices. SiC is by far the most advanced material and, hence, is the subject of attention from power electronics and systems designers. This paper looks at the benefits of using SiC in power electronics applications, reviews the current state of the art, and shows how SiC can be a strong and viable candidate for future power electronics and systems applications.

Silicon carbide benefits and advantages for power electronics circuits and systems

A sustainable energy future requires power electronics that can enable significantly higher efficiencies in the generation, distribution, and usage of electrical energy. Silicon carbide (4H-SiC) is one of the most technologically advanced wide bandgap semiconductor that can outperform conventional silicon in terms of power handling, maximum operating temperature, and power conversion efficiency in power modules. While SiC Schottky diode is a mature technology, SiC power Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors are relatively novel and there is large room for performance improvement. Specifically, major initiatives are under way to improve the inversion channel mobility and gate oxide stability in order to further reduce the on-resistance and enhance the gate reliability. Both problems relate to the defects near the SiO2/SiC interface, which have been the focus of intensive studies for more than a decade. Here we review research on the SiC MOS physics and technology, including its brief history, the state-of-art, and the latest progress in this field. We focus on the two main scientific problems, namely, low channel mobility and bias temperature instability. The possible mechanisms behind these issues are discussed at the device physics level as well as the atomic scale, with the support of published physical analysis and theoretical studies results. Some of the most exciting recent progress in interface engineering for improving the channel mobility and fundamental understanding of channel transport is reviewed.

Silicon carbide: A unique platform for metal-oxide-semiconductor physics

Practical design of high-voltage SiC Schottky rectifiers requires an understanding of the device physics that affect the key performance parameters. Forward characteristics of SiC Schottky rectifiers follow thermionic emission theory and are relatively well understood. However, the reverse characteristics are not well understood and have not been experimentally investigated in-depth. In this paper we report the analysis and experimental results of both the forward and reverse characteristics of high-voltage SiC Schottky rectifiers. Ti and Ni Schottky rectifiers with boron implant edge termination were fabricated on n-type 4H SiC samples. Ni Schottky rectifiers fabricated on a 13-/spl mu/m thick 3.5/spl times/10/sup 15/ cm/sup -3/ epilayer have a current density of 100 A/cm/sup 2/ at approximately 2 V forward bias and a reverse leakage current density of less than 0.1 A/cm/sup 2/ at a reverse bias of 1720 V. The reverse leakage current is observed to depend on device area, Schottky barrier height, electric field at the metal-semiconductor interface, and temperature (a decreasing temperature dependence with increasing reverse bias). In addition. the reverse leakage current magnitude is larger and the electric field dependence is stronger than predicted by thermionic emission and image-force barrier height lowering. This suggests the reverse leakage current is due to a combination of thermionic field emission and field emission.

Design considerations and experimental analysis of high-voltage SiC Schottky barrier rectifiers

We have fabricated 1 kV 4H and 6H SiC Schottky diodes utilizing a metal-oxide overlap structure for electric field termination. This simple structure when used with a high barrier height metal such as Ni has consistently given us good yield of Schottky diodes with breakdown voltages in excess of 60% of the theoretically calculated value. This paper presents the design considerations, the fabrication procedure, and characterization results for these 1 kV Ni-SiC Schottky diodes. Comparison to similarly fabricated Pt-SiC Schottky diodes is reported. The Ni-SiC ohmic contact formation has been studied using Auger electron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The characterization study includes measurements of current-voltage (I-V) temperature and capacitance-voltage (C-V) temperature characteristics. The high-temperature performance of these diodes has also been investigated. The diodes show good rectifying behavior with ON/OFF current ratios, ranging from 10/sup 6/ to 10 at 27/spl deg/C and in excess of 10/sup 6/ up to 300/spl deg/C.

/pdf/high-voltage-ni-and-pt-sic-schottky-diodes-utilizing-metal-34ny47o8pm.pdf

High-voltage Ni- and Pt-SiC Schottky diodes utilizing metal field plate termination

Effects of surface defects on performance of kV-class 4H- and 6H-SiC epitaxial p-n junction diodes were investigated. The perimeter recombination and generation, instead of the bulk process, are responsible for forward recombination current and reverse leakage current of the diodes, respectively. Mapping studies of surface morphological defects have revealed that triangular-shaped defects severely degrade high-blocking capability of the diodes whereas shallow round pits and scratch give no direct impact. Device-killing defects in SiC epilayers are discussed based on breakdown voltage mapping. Effective minority carrier lifetimes are mainly limited not by bulk recombination but by perimeter recombination.

/pdf/performance-limiting-surface-defects-in-sic-epitaxial-p-n-3dineadkl9.pdf

Performance limiting surface defects in SiC epitaxial p-n junction diodes

In recent years, silicon carbide has received increased attention because of its potential for high-power devices. The unique material properties of SiC, high electric breakdown field, high saturated electron drift velocity, and high thermal conductivity are what give this material its tremendous potential in the power device arena. 4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes (1400 V) with forward current densities over 700 A/cm/sup 2/ at 2 V have been demonstrated. Packaged SITs have produced 57 W of output power at 500 MHz, SiC UMOSFETs (1200 V) are projected to have 15 times the current density of Si IGBTs (1200 V). Submicron gate length 4H-SiC MESFETs have achieved f/sub max/=32 GHz, f/sub T/=14.0 GHz, and power density=2.8 W/mm @ 1.8 GHz. The performances of a wide variety of SiC devices are compared to that of similar Si and GaAs devices and to theoretically expected results.

S. Allen

Papers

Silicon carbide high-power devices