SiC power bipolar junction transistors - modeling and improvement of the current gain

Epitaxial silicon carbide bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) for power switching applications have been designed and fabricated with a maximum breakdown voltage of 1100 V. The BJTs have high common emitter current gains with maximum values exceeding 60, a result that is attributed to design optimization of the base and emitter layers and to a high material quality obtained by a continuous epitaxial growth. Device simulations of the current gain as function of collector current have been compared with measurements. The measurements show a clear emitter-size effect that is in good agreement with simulations including surface recombination in interface states at the etched termination of the base-emitter junction. Simulations indicate an optimum emitter doping around 1middot10 cm¹⁹ in agreement with typical state-of-the-art BJTs