Investigations of Short Circuit Robustness of SiC IGBTs with Considerations on Physics Properties and Design

Zhang, Lu Yang; Dai, Tian Xiang; Gammon, Peter M.; Lophitis, Neophytos; Udrea, Florin; Tiwari, Amit; Gonzalez, Jose Ortiz; Renz, A. Benjamin; Shah, Vish Al; Mawby, Phillip A.; Antoniou, Marina

Abstract

The commercial success of silicon carbide (SiC) diodes and MOSFETs for the automotive industry has led many in the field to begin developing ultra-high voltage (UHV) SiC insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), rated from 6 kV to 30 kV, for future grid conversion applications. Despite this early interest, there has been little work conducted on the optimal layout for the SiC IGBT, most early work seeking to overcome difficulties in fabricating the devices without a P+ substrate. In this paper, numerical TCAD simulations are used to examine the link between the carrier lifetime of SiC IGBTs and their short circuit capability. For the planar devices, simulations show that increasing carrier lifetime from 1 to 10 µs, has not only a profound effect reducing on-state losses, but also increases short circuit withstand time (SCWT) by 39%. Two retrograde p-well designs are also investigated, the optimal device for SCWT having a 100 nm channel region of 5×1016 cm-3, with this increasing to a peak value of 2×1018 cm-3, in a 700 nm region beneath the channel.

Citation

Zhang, L. Y., Dai, T. X., Gammon, P. M., Lophitis, N., Udrea, F., Tiwari, A., …Antoniou, M. (2022). Investigations of Short Circuit Robustness of SiC IGBTs with Considerations on Physics Properties and Design. Materials Science Forum, 1062, 504-508. https://doi.org/10.4028/p-13z22g

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 17, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 31, 2022
• Publication Date: May 31, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jun 1, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 1, 2022
• Journal: Materials Science Forum
• Print ISSN: 0255-5476
• Electronic ISSN: 1662-9752
• Publisher: Trans Tech Publications, Ltd.
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1062
• Pages: 504-508
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-13z22g
• Keywords: Mechanical Engineering; Mechanics of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; General Materials Science
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8308981
• Publisher URL: https://www.scientific.net/MSF.1062.504