Promise and Challenges of High-Voltage SiC Bipolar Power Devices

Although various silicon carbide (SiC) power devices with very high blocking voltages over 10 kV have been demonstrated, basic issues associated with the device operation are still not well understood. In this paper, the promise and limitations of high-voltage SiC bipolar devices are presented, taki...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inEnergies (Basel) Vol. 9; no. 11; p. 908
Main Authors Kimoto, Tsunenobu, Yamada, Kyosuke, Niwa, Hiroki, Suda, Jun
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 03.11.2016
Subjects
(merged pin-Schottky) diodes
Anodes
carrier lifetime
conductivity modulation
Devices
Diodes
Electric potential
Electronic devices
Forward characteristics
Lifetime
power device
Radio frequency
Silicon carbide
Transistors
Voltage
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI10.3390/en9110908

Cover

More Information
Summary:Although various silicon carbide (SiC) power devices with very high blocking voltages over 10 kV have been demonstrated, basic issues associated with the device operation are still not well understood. In this paper, the promise and limitations of high-voltage SiC bipolar devices are presented, taking account of the injection-level dependence of carrier lifetimes. It is shown that the major limitation of SiC bipolar devices originates from band-to-band recombination, which becomes significant at a high-injection level. A trial of unipolar/bipolar hybrid operation to reduce power loss is introduced, and an 11 kV SiC hybrid (merged pin-Schottky) diodes is experimentally demonstrated. The fabricated diodes with an epitaxial anode exhibit much better forward characteristics than diodes with an implanted anode. The temperature dependence of forward characteristics is discussed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en9110908