Single-Event-Burnout in 1.2kV 4H-SiC Lateral RESURF Power MOSFET

Abstract:

Extensive experiments and simulations indicate that Single-Event ion bombardment Effects (SEE) can trigger a Single-Event Burnout (SEB) in 4H-SiC vertical power devices at lower than half of the rated breakdown voltage. This paper investigates the SEB robustness of a 1.2kV 4H-SiC lateral RESURF MOSFET using a 3-D electrothermal device simulator (Sentaurus) with a reported heavy ion model based on high-fidelity radiation data. The maximum V_SEB/BV_rate ratio of 0.67 is 2.2 times higher than the reported V_SEB/BV_rate ratio of 0.3 for a 4H-SiC vertical DMOSFET with the same voltage rating. The reason is due to the reduced surface field at the drain terminal and the orthogonality of the heavy ion and impact ionization paths, resulting in less efficient excess carrier generation. This highlights the potential of lateral power devices for use in radiation-hardened environments.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 1023)
• Pages: 29-37
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-lmJvs5
• Online since: September 2025
• Authors: Zhao Wen He*, Wei Ji, T. Paul Chow
• Keywords: 4H-SiC Lateral RESURF Power MOSFET, Single-Event Burnout

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