A comprehensive study on the avalanche breakdown robustness of silicon carbide power MOSFETs

Fayyaz, Asad; Romano, Gianpaolo; Urresti, Jesus; Riccio, Michele; Castellazzi, Alberto; Irace, Andrea; Wright, Nick

Abstract

This paper presents an in-depth investigation into the avalanche breakdown robustness of commercial state-of-the-art silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs comprising of functional as well as structural characterization and the corresponding underlying physical mechanisms responsible for device failure. One aspect of robustness for power MOSFETs is determined by its ability to withstand energy during avalanche breakdown. Avalanche energy (EAV) is an important figure of merit for all applications requiring load dumping and/or to benefit from snubber-less converter design. 2D TCAD electro-thermal simulations were performed to get important insight into the failure mechanism of SiC power MOSFETs during avalanche breakdown

Citation

Fayyaz, A., Romano, G., Urresti, J., Riccio, M., Castellazzi, A., Irace, A., & Wright, N. (2017). A comprehensive study on the avalanche breakdown robustness of silicon carbide power MOSFETs. Energies, 10(4), Article 452. https://doi.org/10.3390/en10040452

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 21, 2017
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 12, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 12, 2017
• Journal: Energies
• Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 4
• Article Number: 452
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/en10040452
• Keywords: avalanche breakdown; silicon carbide (SiC); wide band-gap (WBG); power MOSFET; unclamped inductive switching (UIS); failure mechanism; leakage current
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/853765
• Publisher URL: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/4/452
• Contract Date: Jul 12, 2017