Title :
Study of bulk and elementary screw dislocation assisted reverse breakdown in low-voltage (<250 V) 4H-SiC p+-n junction diodes. II. Dynamic breakdown properties
Author :
Neudeck, Philip G. ; Fazi, Christian
Author_Institution :
NASA Lewis Res. Center, Cleveland, OH, USA
fDate :
3/1/1999 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
For Part I see ibid., vol.46, no.3, pp.478-84 (Mar. 1999). This paper outlines the dynamic reverse-breakdown characteristics of low-voltage (<250 V) small-area <5×10-4 cm2 4H-SiC p+-n diodes subjected to nonadiabatic breakdown-bias pulsewidths ranging from 0.1 to 20 μs 4H-SiC diodes with and without elementary screw dislocations exhibited positive temperature coefficient of breakdown voltage and high junction failure power densities approximately five times larger than the average failure power density of reliable silicon pn rectifiers. This result indicates that highly reliable low-voltage SiC rectifiers may be attainable despite the presence of elementary screw dislocations. However, the impact of elementary screw dislocations on other more useful 4H-SiC power device structures, such as high-voltage (>1 kV) pn junction and Schottky rectifiers, and bipolar gain devices (thyristors, ICBT´s, etc.) remains to be investigated
Keywords :
p-n junctions; power semiconductor diodes; screw dislocations; semiconductor device breakdown; silicon compounds; wide band gap semiconductors; 250 V; PTCBV; SiC; dynamic reverse breakdown; failure power density; low-voltage 4H-SiC p+-n junction diode; power device; screw dislocation; Electric breakdown; Fasteners; NASA; Power system reliability; Rectifiers; Schottky diodes; Semiconductor diodes; Semiconductor optical amplifiers; Silicon carbide; Temperature;
Journal_Title :
Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on