The 3.3 kV SiC MOSFETs are essential for traction applications, so it is important to investigate the reliability of the recently developed high voltage MOSFETs and power modules as they are believed to be more susceptible to the effects of basal plane dislocations (BPDs). This paper presents measurement results and analysis of bipolar degradation and threshold voltage instability in 3.3 kV SiC MOSFETs having two distinct kinds of integrated diode, conventional body diode and embedded Schottky Barrier Diode (SBD). No bipolar degradation was observed both in MOSFET with conventional body diode and with embedded SBD after accumulated test with 100 hours each of 200%, 400% and 600% rated current stress in the 3rd quadrant of operation. However, the output characteristics show 1% ( 0.2 mΩ) and 2% ( 0.4 mΩ) increase in on resistance (RDS(on)) and 11% (0.23 V) and 5% (0.1 V) increase in threshold voltage (VTH), respectively, after total bipolar degradation test in the case of the MOSFET with conventional body diode and up to 74 hrs of 600% rated current stress in the case of the MOSFET with embedded SBD at 70°C. A rapid large negative VTH shift was obse rved in the MOSFETs with embedded SBD after 74 hrs of 600% rated current stress. After accumulated Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) test at 150°C, the VTH value at 25°C has increased by 9.7% (0.14 V) and 14.5% (0.2 V) for the MOSFET with conventional body diode and with embedded SBD, respectively, while RDS(on) increased by 1mΩ at 25°C and by 5mΩ at 150°C, for both types of MOSFETs.

Double sided modules accommodating wide band gap (WBG) devices are increasingly used in electric vehicles owing to their lower thermal resistance and parasitic inductances. Compared with single sided modules having a single ceramic substrate, the mechanical constraint applied on the silver sintered bonding layers in double sided modules (with two ceramic substrates) poses a more challenging reliability issue. In this work, we develop a parametric model to investigate the effects of layout, geometry and material properties on damage distribution in silver sintered layers of double sided modules. Anand viscoplastic model was used to describe the inelastic deformation of sintered silver under power cycling. Equivalent inelastic strain accumulated in each power cycle was used as the damage parameter and failure criterion. The model enables parametric study of damage distribution in double sided modules, and help improve design for maximum reliability. Using this model, the effects of parameters such as spacer and die thicknesses were investigated in this study.

In this work, MeV alpha particles generated from an accelerator are used to study single event breakdown (SEB) in 4H-SiC MOSFET samples, rated at 3.3 kV. The samples are exposed to bursts of alpha particles under reverse bias conditions to investigate the SEB sensitivity to ion energy and reverse bias. The energies of alpha particles are chosen to reach different depths in the drift region of the MOSFET devices, and also to penetrate the whole drift region. Forward and reverse characteristics are measured after each exposure, as long as no failures occur, to ensure that the device performance is maintained. The measurements show that no significant effects are observed on the drain-source leakage current, while minor effects on gate behavior can be seen as a function of accumulated fluence. Furthermore, SEB can only be triggered with a reverse bias larger than, or equal to 3 kV. A standard MOSFET cell with a similar rated voltage is also simulated in Sentaurus TCAD to study these effects, using two different models for the incident ion-induced ionization: the Alpha Particle and the Heavy Ion model. Simulations show that the Alpha Particle model cannot induce any device failures even with a 3.5 kV reverse bias, while it is possible to trigger a failure by the Heavy Ion model, where the ionization can be selected. Carrier plasma and internal electric field distributions of the two models are plotted and compared, showing that device failures triggered by a heavy ion are related to the hole injection at epi-substrate interface, in which linear energy transfer (LET) of the particle plays an important role.

SiC MOSFETs display reliability issues related to the quality of SiO2/SiC interface and bulk material due to the presence of near interface traps and point and extended material defects [1]. These material related issues give rise to a degradation of device reliability and ruggedness. One of them are basal plane dislocations (BPDs) introduced in the drift-layer during the epitaxial growth process which causes a s.c. bipolar degradation. Growth and movement of BPDs fueled by recombination energy has a very significant impact on conduction loss and on-resistance degradation. For 3.3 kV voltage capability, the probability of the appearance of BPDs is greater because the drift region is about three times larger compared to 1.2 kV devices [2-3]. We present measurement results and analysis of bipolar degradation in 3.3 kV MOSFETs with conventional body diode and embedded schottky barrier diode (SBD). The measurements were performed applying 50 % and 80 % of rated current with duty cycle 80 %, under total time of 100 hrs at constant case temperature of 54 °C. The 3rd-quadrant performance of both types of MOSFETs in pre-stress conditions was characterized at 25 and 150 °C with different gate biases of -10 V, 0 V, and +17 V. To evaluate the bipolar degradation, the diode conduction characteristics were measured at 25 °C after different stressing times by diode conduction the MOSFET output characteristics were measured at 25 and 54 °C before and after stressing the intrinsic body diode and embedded SBD. No VSD shift was observed in diode conduction characteristics. The results indicate that the MOSFETs were fabricated on appropriate material with a sufficiently low number basal plane dislocation (BPD). The on-state resistance with VGS = +17 V was decreased by temperature due to increased JFET resistance rather than bipolar degradation. On the other hand, the on-state resistance with VGS = +11 V was impacted by the increased temperature and VTH instability.

Compared with silicon-based power devices, wide band gap (WBG) semiconductor devices operate at significantly higher power densities required in applications such as electric vehicles and more electric airplanes. This necessitates development of power electronics packages with enhanced thermal characteristics that fulfil the electrical insulation requirements. The present research investigates the feasibility of using ceramic additive manufacturing (AM), also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, to address thermal and electrical requirements in packaging gallium nitride (GaN) based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs). The goal is to exploit design freedom and manufacturing flexibility provided by ceramic AM to fabricate power device packages with a lower junction-to-ambient thermal resistance (<italic>R</italic>&#x03B8;JA). Ceramic AM also enables incorporation of intricate 3D features into the package structure in order to control the isolation distance between the package source and drain contact pads. Moreover, AM allows to fabricate different parts of the packaging assembly as a single structure to avoid high thermal resistance interfaces. For example, the ceramic package and the ceramic heatsink can be printed as a single part without any bonding layer. Thermal simulations under different thermal loading and cooling conditions show the improvement of thermal performance of the package fabricated by ceramic AM. If assisted by an efficient cooling strategy, the proposed package has the potential to reduce <italic>R</italic>&#x03B8;JA by up to 48%. The results of the preliminary efforts to fabricate the ceramic package by AM are presented, and the challenges that have to be overcome for further development of this manufacturing method are recognized and discussed. 

The temperature evolution during a short-circuit fault in the dies of three different Silicon Carbide 1200-V power devices is presented. Transient electro-thermal simulations were performed based on the reconstructed structure of commercially available devices. The simulations reveal the location of the hottest point in each device. The nonisothermal electrical analysis supports the necessity to turn OFF short-circuit events rapidly to protect the immunity of the device after a fault. The analysis also reveal differences in delay required to turn OFF devices depending on their type. A thorough analysis of the temperature rise in the die of the SiC MOSFET device is also presented, where the maximum temperature with regards to different fault cases and circuit characteristics is presented. The impact of the gate resistance, circuit inductance, detection time, drain-source voltage, and gate-source voltage are considered.

The RF power amplifier demonstrators containing each one GaN-on-SiC, HEMT, CHZ015A-QEG, from UMSin SMD quad-flat no-leads package (QFN) were subjected to thermal cycles (TC) and power cycles (PC) andevaluated electrically, thermally and structurally. Two types of solders, Sn63Pb36Ag2 and lead-free SnAgCu(SAC305), and two types of TIM materials, NanoTIM and TgonTM 805, for PCB attachment to the liquid cold platewere tested for thermo-mechanical reliability. Changes in the electrical performance of the devices, namely thereduction of the current saturation value, threshold voltage shift, increase of the leakage current and degradation ofthe HF performance were observed as a result of an accumulated current stress during PC. No significant changes inthe investigated solder or TIM materials were observed.

In this study, an area-selective metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) for trench-confined InP-based epitaxial regrowth in-between arrayed rectangular-shaped device elements is reported. Test structures are fabricated to investigate the influence of MOVPE growth and other processing parameters on regrowth control, doping incorporation, and morphology. For correctly chosen crystallographic mesa orientation and mask geometry, good control of growth selectivity, layer morphology, and doping concentration can be achieved, although with an enhanced and non-constant growth rate. This is discussed in terms of orientation-dependent growth rate and loading effects. In addition, a selective etch and regrowth approach which allows for the processing of field-effect transistors of significance for spatial light modulators with trench-integrated driver electronics is successfully implemented.

1.2 kV SiC buried grid junction barrier Schottky (BG-JBS) diodes are demonstrated. The design considerations for high temperature applications are investigated. The design is optimized in terms of doping concentration and thickness of the epilayers, as well as grid size and spacing dimensions, in order to obtain low on-resistance and reasonable leakage current even at high temperatures. The device behavior at temperatures ranging from 25 to 250ºC is analyzed and measured on wafer level. The forward voltage drop of 1.1 V at 100 A/cm2 and 3.8 V at 1000 A/cm2 is measured, respectively. At reverse voltage of 1 kV, a leakage current density below 0.1 μA/cm2 and below 0.1 mA/cm2 is measured at 25 and 250ºC, respectively. This proves the effective shielding effect of the BG-JBS design and provides benefits in high voltage applications, particularly for high temperature operation.