Effects of Dislocations and Stacking Faults on the Reliability of 4H-SiC PiN Diodes

Silicon carbide has numerous advantages for fabricating power devices compared to silicon including a 3X larger bandgap, higher internal breakdown field and higher thermal conductivity. However, there are a number of material and processing problems that must be overcome before SiC devices are reliable and commercially viable. A major material problem impeding the development of reliable PiN diodes is the formation of stacking faults during forward-biased operation, which causes the forward voltage to drift upward. The origin of the stacking faults, how they affect the electrical behavior and progress in reducing stacking faults are discussed