Exploiting the high temperature promise of SiC

by Ranbir Singh, GeneSiC Semiconductor, Compound Semiconductor, Apr 03 2012

Focus:
With their lower leakage currents in high-voltage blocking pn junctions, SiC diodes and transistors have the potential to operate at much higher temperatures than conventional silicon diodes and transistors. However, leakage currents vary with device design and fabrication processes so that in practice there is wide variation in leakage current levels and therefore wide variation in high temperature performance among SiC Schottky diodes offered by different vendors. This article discusses the design and superior performance of the low-leakage, high-temperature SiC Schottkys and transistors (“SJTs”) developed by GeneSiC, which enable their operation at temperatures beyond 250°C. The leakage of GeneSiC’s 1200-V Schottkys is compared with that of competitors and performance of the SiC SJTs (leakage current, switching energy, and power loss) is compared against that of 1200-V silicon IGBTs. The impact of the SiC Schottkys on the performance of the IGBTs is also evaluated. Results, particularly the lower losses enabled by the SiC devices, are discussed. Article also briefly discusses how substrate issues limit the high-temperature performance of GaN semiconductors.

What you’ll learn:

• How to improve the high-temperature performance of power converters by replacing silicon fast-recovery epitaxial diodes with SiC Schottkys as the freewheeling diodes for high-voltage IGBTs.
• How to understand the factors that influence the high-temperature performance of high-voltage silicon, silicon carbide and gallium nitride power semiconductors

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