Title :
Ruggedness analysis of 600V 4H-SiC JBS diodes under repetitive avalanche conditions
Author :
Huang, Xing ; Wang, Gangyao ; Jiang, Li ; Huang, Alex Q.
Author_Institution :
Future Renewable Electr. Energy Delivery & Manage. Syst. Center, North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA
Abstract :
The repetitive avalanche reliability of power rectifiers is crucial to the safe operation of the hard switching power converters under extreme conditions as well as transient voltage suppression (TVS) applications. In this paper, the ruggedness of two state-of-art 4H-SiC Junction Barrier Schottky (JBS) diodes under repetitive avalanche stresses has been studied. Two different post-stress behaviors have been observed: VF degradation and BV drifting for the two different JBS diodes. The VF degradation could happen to the device that avalanches in the active area. However, for the device that avalanches in the edge termination, the repetitive avalanche stress greatly increases the breakdown voltage for about 100V. These results bring new concerns for SiC devices that are expected to be operated in avalanche conditions.
Keywords :
Schottky diodes; avalanche diodes; power semiconductor diodes; silicon compounds; stress analysis; 4H-SiC JBS diodes; SiC; TVS application; breakdown voltage drifting; forward-voltage drop degradation; hard-switching power converters; junction barrier Schottky diodes; operation safety; post-stress behaviors; power rectifiers; repetitive avalanche reliability; repetitive-avalanche conditions; repetitive-avalanche stress; ruggedness analysis; transient voltage suppression application; voltage 600 V; Degradation; Electric breakdown; Materials; Reliability; Semiconductor diodes; Silicon carbide; Stress;
Conference_Titel :
Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), 2012 Twenty-Seventh Annual IEEE
Conference_Location :
Orlando, FL
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-1215-9
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4577-1214-2
DOI :
10.1109/APEC.2012.6166048
