An overview of Cree silicon carbide power devices

The compelling system benefits of using silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes have resulted in rapid commercial adoption of this new technology by the power supply industry. Silicon carbide PiN diodes, MOSFET´s, and BJT´s, are approaching the point of development that they could be transitioned to volume production. This work reviews the characteristics of recently produced SiC devices including Schottky diodes, PiN diodes, MOSFET´s, and BJT´s. A comparison of the static and dynamic performance of the SiC devices and typical silicon devices is performed. The results show the performance improvement available with SiC devices. The high temperature performance capabilities of SiC devices are also highlighted.