Study of SiC vertical JFET behavior during unclamped inductive switching

Author

Xueqing Li ; Bhalla, Anup ; Alexandrov, P. ; Fursin, L.

Author_Institution

United Silicon Carbide, Inc., Monmouth Junction, NJ, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

16-20 March 2014

Firstpage

2588

Lastpage

2592

Abstract

Excellent physical and electrical properties of SiC material make SiC JFETs extremely attractive for high power density, high temperature and high frequency power applications. With increased switching speed, a stable operation capability of the devices under unclamped inductive switching (UIS) conditions is critical for the reliable operation of power switching systems. In this work, the behaviors of 1.2kV SiC normally-on vertical JFETs under UIS conditions are investigated by performing UIS tests. A record high energy density of 9,407mJ/cm² dissipated in the device during UIS is measured. Physics-based mixed-mode electro-thermal device simulations are also performed to predict the maximum device temperatures during UIS and to understand JFET failure modes.

Keywords

junction gate field effect transistors; mixed analogue-digital integrated circuits; silicon compounds; switches; wide band gap semiconductors; JFET failure modes; SiC; SiC normally-on vertical JFET; UIS; electrical properties; mixed-mode electro-thermal device simulations; physical properties; power density; power switching; switching speed; unclamped inductive switching; voltage 1.2 kV; Inductors; JFETs; Junctions; Logic gates; Silicon carbide; Temperature; Temperature measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), 2014 Twenty-Ninth Annual IEEE

Conference_Location

Fort Worth, TX

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/APEC.2014.6803668

Filename

6803668