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The role of an academic in the area of SiC power devices can be categorized as: (1) Fundamental Theoretical Predictions; (2) Fundamental Scientific Knowledge; (3) Fundamental Device Structures; (4) Device Structural Innovations; (5) Device Physics and Analysis; and (6) Technology Feasibility Studies. This paper provides examples of these activities during my past 40 years of effort in this field as a retrospective. New prospective device ideas that will have a strong impact on power electronics in the future are then discussed.

IEEE WiPDA 2022

An Academic’s Perspective on SiC Power Devices: Retrospection and Prognostication

specific on-resistance

shielded power mosfet

sg-mosfet

octfet

mrbt

jbs rectifier

jbsfet

impact ionization coefficients

hf-fomm

gate oxide thickness

channel length

bidfet

bg-mosfet

bfom

silicon carbide

After two years of virtual conferences, we're excited to host EMC 2022 in person at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. In addition to cutting-edge technical presentations given in multiple parallel sessions, opportunities to network with colleagues will be present throughout the conference. The size and format of the meeting makes networking easy, whether you have been coming to the conference for many years or are a first-time attendee.

EMC is coordinated with the Device Research Conference (DRC), which will be held the same week, from June 26-29. This recognizes the strong interaction between device and electronic materials research and provides fruitful exchange of information between attendees of both Conferences.

For information on the 80th Device Research Conference, please visit the DRC 2022 website.



EMC 2022

The Electronic Materials Conference (EMC) is the premier annual forum on the preparation, characterization and use of electronic materials. This year’s event will feature a plenary session, topical sessions, a poster session and more.

keynote

Download the proceedings [here](https://underline.io/events/372/lounge)
 
 
 The IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices & Applications (WiPDA) provides a forum for device scientists, circuit designers, & application engineers from the Power Electronics & Electron Devices Societies to share technology updates, research findings, experience & potential applications.
 
 **Topics of interest**
* Heteroepitaxial & Bulk Materials Growth
* Gate Dielectrics & Surface Passivation
* Device Structures & Fabrication Techniques
* Device Characterization & Modeling
* Very-High Efficiency Or Compact Converters
* Safe Operating Areas Of Wide Bandgap Devices, including Short Circuit, Spike, &Transient Tolerance
* Harsh Environment (High Temperature) Operation & Reliability
* Packaging Power Modules & ICs
* Gate Drive & Other Auxiliary Circuits
* High-Performance Passive Components
* Hard-Switched & Soft-Switched Application Analysis
* Applications in Renewable Energy & Energy Storage, Transportation, Industrial Drives, Grid Power Systems, Space and Aerospace
* Wide Bandgap System Design Philosophies & Strategies
* Radio Frequency (RF) GaN
* Technology Roadmap of Wide Bandgap Including Devices, Applications and Packaging

You must register to attend this event. If you haven't done so already, please use the link below to register for the event. All registered attendees will have access to the event site on November 4th.

Registration Is Required

The IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices & Applications (WiPDA) provides a forum for device scientists, circuit designers, & application engineers from the Power Electronics & Electron Devices Societies to share technology updates, research findings, experience & potential applications.

The adoption of SiC Schottky diodes and then SiC MOSFETs in solar inverter applications was the first wave to evaluate the capabilities of these new devices in challenging applications and environments.  With the observed and projected growth of demand for high-efficiency, high-voltage power semiconductor devices in automotive traction and EV chargers, challenges arise to supply SiC devices into these demanding applications.  Current and emerging SiC power device manufacturers are developing strategies to be able to support the accelerating need for SiC power device supply.  onsemi is building on its strength in end-to-end solutions of silicon power semiconductor devices, starting with silicon crystal growth and epitaxy, through die fabrication and final package and module assembly.  onsemi has extended its existing silicon-based power semi portfolio into SiC-based power modules.  To achieve this, we continue to invest heavily in SiC wafer and epitaxy, as well as expanding wafer fab capacity to meet the growing demand.  Additionally, onsemi continues to develop advanced SiC power modules to meet the specific needs of automotive and industrial customers. At onsemi, we strongly believe that this vertically-integrated strategy will help meet the growing customer needs for high-efficiency SiC power modules.

Toward Vertical Integration to Scale the Supply of High Performance SiC Power Modules for Demanding Applications

There is little debate nowadays about the merit of GaN or SiC material for Power Electronics applications compared to the Silicon-based technologies. Power supplies and power inverter continue to drive most of the Wide Bandgap material adoption with Gallium Nitride used nowadays in nearly every power supply and Silicon Carbide as the material of choice for high efficiency power inverters for long range Electric Vehicle (EV). To enable such widespread adoption into new applications, MOCVD equipment needs to ensure not only to meet the tightest material performance requirements but also to provide solutions enabling cost reduction year after year. In addition, the current semiconductor ramps, and material constraints are accelerate the transition to larger substrate size and the focus on integrability into Silicon factory as well as tool productivity per unit for clean room floor area. We will present how AIXTRON is addressing those markets with new series of high throughput solutions for Wide Bandgap materials and how this contribute to bolst the output of existing factories.

New high throughout solutions for Wide Bandgap power semiconductors

As the world looks beyond silicon for the next generation of power electronics, NexGen Vertical GaN™, the world’s first GaN-on-GaN power semiconductor, unlocks the full potential of Gallium Nitride (GaN). It is the only wide band gap power semiconductor that provides high-voltage capabilities up to 4kV, switching frequencies up to 10MHz, and avalanche and short-circuit robustness. This makes it an ideal power semiconductor for applications from LED Lighting and Computing to Data Centers and Electric Vehicles. NexGen is reinventing power electronics by leveraging this breakthrough technology and building a scalable, software-configurable power platform that enables the smallest, lightest, and most efficient power systems.

Vertical GaN “Technology of Future” – Now a Reality with NexGen Power Systems

Ultra-wide-bandgap (UWBG) AlGaN alloys (Eg > 4 eV) are appealing for the next-generation of high-voltage power devices due to their superior material properties. Most notable is that the critical electrical field scales as the bandgap to the ~ 2.0-2.5 power. Thus, power diodes employing Al-rich AlGaN alloys (4.0 < Eg < 6.2 eV) are expected to operate at higher breakdown voltages with thinner and more heavily-doped drift regions, leading to lower resistive losses and higher power density compared to Si-, SiC- and even GaN-based devices. Additionally, the formation of AlGaN-based heterojunctions and the utilization of polarization fields for doping offer device design options not currently possible for devices based on SiC and other ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors such as diamond and b-Ga2O3. We will present polarization doping of both p- and n-type AlGaN alloys in compositions where conventional impurity doping fails and employ polarization doping to fabricate Al0.7Ga0.3N PN diodes with kilovolt breakdown voltages. In addition to appealing material properties such has high critical electric field, we have found that the electrical characteristics of Schottky diodes and regrown PN junctions in AlGaN alloys show a surprising robustness to residual, sub-surface etch damage that degrades the performance and thus complicates the fabrication of GaN devices. This robustness to etch damage has led to the demonstration of PN diodes where the p-anode was formed by regrowth in an etched well which resulted in diodes that exhibit reverse breakdown voltages of 1.8 kV and are indistinguishable from continuously grown PN diodes. A major challenge to realizing vertically conducting AlGaN power devices is the lack of a native, conducting substrate. To address the need for vertically conducting device architectures, we present an AlGaN overgrowth process on previously-patterned, conducting GaN substrates that have been used to fabricate PN diodes with 7 mm thick drift layers in Al0.3Ga0.7N that reach breakdown voltages of 1 kV. These and other examples to be presented illustrate the potential of AlGaN alloys for realizing kilovolt-class power diodes and transistors for next generation power systems.

Ultra-Wide Bandgap AlGaN Alloys for Power Electronics

Supply and Cost of Substrates for Compound Semiconductors

A new Dodecagonal (polygon with twelve sides, short for Dod) cell topology is designed for 4H-SiC planar power MOSFETs. The Dod cell is used in the layout design of the 650 V SiC MOSFETs. The nominal Hexagonal (Hex) cell and a recently published Octagonal (Oct) cell are also used on the 650 V SiC MOSFET layout designs for comparisons. The devices are fabricated, diced, and packaged for static and dynamic characterizations. Experimental results show that the Hex-cell MOSFET has the lowest specific ON-resistance (Ron,sp) and is suitable for high-power applications. The Dod and Oct-cell MOSFETs have much smaller gate-drain capacitance than Hexcell MOSFETs, making them good candidates for high-frequency applications. The new Dod cell is designed with optimized channel density to have reduced Ron,sp compared to the Oct cell.

A New Cell Topology for 4H-SiC Planar Power MOSFETs and Comparison with Hexagonal and Octagonal Cell Topologies

Several different designs of 1.2kV-rated 4HSiC JBS diode integrated MOSFETs (JBSFETs) have been successfully fabricated to increase the 3rd quadrant device performance while maintaining the electrical characteristics on both the forward and blocking modes of operation when compared to its MOSFET counterpart. Incorporating the Schottky area in an efficient manner to improve overall device performance has been a critical path in the development and adoption of 4H-SiC JBSFETs rather than MOSFETs copackaged with JBS Diodes. Device design, fabrication, and electrical performances are discussed in this paper and as a result, an optimum JBSFET design is proposed.

Exploring Optimum Designs for 1.2kV 4HSiC JBS Diode Integrated MOSFETs (JBSFETs)

In this paper, we explore the optimization of “saddle” type finger layout for lateral SiC RESURF (Reduced Surface Electric Field) diodes where concave/convex finger ends combined with mesa etch isolation achieve over 82% of the inner cell breakdown voltage. Furthermore, added deep P+ JBS pattern near the anode Schottky contact significantly improves robustness against field crowding when cell pitch/finger width is reduced to densify the chip. Improved surge current capability compared with pure Schottky structure is investigated through mix-mode TCAD simulation. The proposed design methodologies offer guidance for future efforts toward realizing a monolithic SiC high voltage integrated circuit.

Design Optimization and Surge Current Capability of 4H-SiC Lateral Deep P+ JBS Diode on Thin RESURF Layer

It is well known that the high density of interface traps (Dit) near the conduction band (CB) edge limits the net inversion layer charge in the conduction band of a 4H-SiC/SiO2 MOSFET in strong inversion. Measurements at cryogenic temperatures are necessary to study the presence of interface trap density (Dit) up to the CB edge. In our study, we extracted the threshold voltage (VT) from cryogenic (10 K) to high temperature (500 K) and calculated the VT shift which is a measure of interface trapped negative charge (∆Qit). This shift in negative charge is used to estimate a relative magnitude of Dit near the CB edge. The higher the value of ∆VT, the higher the Dit for a given sample.

Characterization of Near Conduction Band SiC/SiO2 Interface Traps in Commercial 4H-SiC Power MOSFETs

In order to evaluate the time evolution of avalanche breakdown in wide and ultra-wide bandgap devices, we have developed a cable pulser experimental setup that can evaluate the time-evolution of the terminating impedance for a semiconductor device with a time resolution of 130 ps. We have utilized this pulser setup to evaluate the time-to-breakdown of vertical Gallium Nitride and Silicon Carbide diodes for possible use as protection elements in the electrical grid against fast transient voltage pulses (such as those induced by an electromagnetic pulse event). We have found that the Gallium Nitride device demonstrated faster dynamics compared to the Silicon Carbide device, achieving 90% conduction within 1.37 ns compared to the SiC device response time of 2.98 ns. While the Gallium Nitride device did not demonstrate significant dependence of breakdown time with applied voltage, the Silicon Carbide device breakdown time was strongly dependent on applied voltage, ranging from a value of 2.97 ns at 1.33 kV to 0.78 ns at 2.6 kV. The fast response time (< 5 ns) of both the Gallium Nitride and Silicon Carbide devices indicate that both materials systems could meet the stringent response time requirements and may be appropriate for implementation as protection elements against electromagnetic pulse transients.

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An Academic’s Perspective on SiC Power Devices: Retrospection and Prognostication

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Toward Vertical Integration to Scale the Supply of High Performance SiC Power Modules for Demanding Applications

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