Static and Switching Characteristics of 10 kV-Class Silicon Carbide Bipolar Junction Transistors and Darlingtons

Abstract:

This paper reports the device design, fabrication and characterisation of 10 kV-class Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT). Manufactured devices have been packaged in single BJT, two paralleled BJTs and Darlington configurations. The static and switching characteristics of the resulting devices have been measured. The BJTs (2.4mm² active area) show a specific on-resistance as low as 198 mΩ·cm² at 100 A/cm² and room temperature for a β_Max of 9.6, whereas the same active area Darlington beats the unipolar limit with a specific on-resistance of 102 mΩ·cm² at 200 A/cm² (β=11) for a β_Max of 69. Double pulse tests reveal state of the art switching with very sharp dV/dt and di/dt. Turn-on is operated at less than 100 ns for an E_ON lower than 4mJ, whereas the turn-off takes longer times due to tail current resulting in E_OFF of 17.2 mJ and 50 mJ for the single BJT and Darlington respectively when operated at high current density. Excellent parallelisation have been achieved.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 1004)
• Pages: 923-932
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.1004.923
• Online since: July 2020
• Authors: Besar Asllani*, Pascal Bevilacqua, Hervé Morel, Dominique Planson, Luong Viet Phung, Beverley Choucoutou, Thomas Lagier, Michel Mermet-Guyennet
• Keywords: 10 kV SiC BJT, 10 kV SiC Darlington, Device Processing, Double Pulse Test (DPT), Electrical Characterisation, SiC BJT Parallelisation

References

[1] Applications | Automotive., [Online]. Available: https://www.genesicsemi.com/ applications/. [Accessed: 27-Aug-2019].

[2] E-Series Automotive MOSFETs and Diodes | Wolfspeed,, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.wolfspeed.com/e-series. [Accessed: 27-Aug-2019].

[3] A. Marshaly, The potential of Silicon carbide (SiC) for automotive applications,, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.eenewseurope.com/design-center/potential-silicon-carbide-sic-automotive-applications. [Accessed: 27-Aug-2019].

[4] ON Semiconductor Announces SiC Diodes for Demanding Automotive Applications," 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.onsemi.com/PowerSolutions/newsItem.do, article=4112. [Accessed: 27-Aug-2019].

[5] Automotive SiC Diodes - STMicroelectronics., [Online]. Available: https://www.stmicroelectronics.com.cn/en/automotive-analog-and-power/automotive-sic-diodes.html. [Accessed: 27-Aug-2019].

[6] SiC for automotive applications., [Online]. Available: https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/ product/promopages/sicatv/. [Accessed: 27-Aug-2019].

[7] D. Johannesson, M. Nawaz, K. Jacobs, S. Norrga, and H. P. Nee, Potential of ultra-high voltage silicon carbide semiconductor devices,, in WiPDA 2016 - 4th IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications, 2016, p.253–258.

DOI: 10.1109/wipda.2016.7799948

[8] Y. Gao, A. Q. Huang, S. Krishnaswami, J. Richmond, and A. K. Agarwal, Comparison of Static and Switching Characteristics of 1200 V 4H-SiC BJT and 1200 V Si-IGBT,, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 44, no. 3, p.887–893, (2008).

DOI: 10.1109/tia.2008.921408

[9] S. Sundaresan, S. Jeliazkov, B. Grummel, and R. Singh, 10 kV SiC BJTs — Static, switching and reliability characteristics," in 2013 25th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices & IC,s (ISPSD), 2013, p.303–306.

DOI: 10.1109/ispsd.2013.6694409

[10] Q. Zhang, C. Jonas, M. O'Loughlin, R. Callanan, A. Agarwal, and C. Scozzie, A 10-kV monolithic darlington transistor with βforced of 336 in 4H-SiC,, IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 30, no. 2, p.142–144, (2009).

DOI: 10.1109/led.2008.2009953

[11] D. Okamoto, H. Yano, K. Hirata, T. Hatayama, and T. Fuyuki, Improved Inversion Channel Mobility in 4H-SiC MOSFETs on Si Face Utilizing Phosphorus-Doped Gate Oxide,, IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 31, no. 7, p.710–712, Jul. (2010).

DOI: 10.1109/led.2010.2047239

[12] D. Peftitsis and J. Rabkowski, Gate and Base Drivers for Silicon Carbide Power Transistors: An Overview,, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 31, no. 10, p.1–1, (2015).

DOI: 10.1109/tpel.2015.2510425

[13] D. Tournier, P. Bevilacqua, P. Brosselard, D. Planson, and B. Allard, SiC BJT driver applied to a 2 kW inverter: Performances and limitations,, 2010 6th Int. Conf. Integr. Power Electron. Syst. CIPS 2010, p.1–6, (2011).

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.645-648.1155

[14] G. Tolstoy, D. Peftitsis, J. Rabkowski, P. R. Palmer, and H.-P. Nee, A Discretized Proportional Base Driver for Silicon Carbide Bipolar Junction Transistors,, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 29, no. 5, p.2408–2417, May (2014).

DOI: 10.1109/tpel.2013.2274331

[15] B. Asllani et al., Advanced Electrical Characterisation of High Voltage 4H-SiC PiN Diodes,, Mater. Sci. Forum, vol. 963, p.567–571, Jul. (2019).

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.963.567

[16] B. Choucoutou, L. V. Phung, P. Brosselard, M. Mermet-guyennet, and D. Planson, Étude en simulation et conception d'un transistor bipolaire ( BJT ) 10 kV en 4H-SiC,, in Symposium de Genie Electrique, Jun 2016, Grenoble, France, (2016).

[17] GA15IDDJT22-FR4,, 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.genesicsemi.com/technical_ support/Evaluation_Boards/GA15IDDJT22-FR4.pdf. [Accessed: 29-Aug-2019].

[18] SiC MOSFET Isolated Gate Driver., [Online]. Available: https://www.wolfspeed.com/ downloads/dl/file/id/151/product/0/sic_mosfet_isolated_gate_driver.pdf.

[19] M. K. Das et al., 10 kV, 120 A SiC half H-bridge power MOSFET modules suitable for high frequency, medium voltage applications,, in 2011 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, 2011, p.2689–2692.

DOI: 10.1109/ecce.2011.6064129

[20] Q. C. J. Zhang et al., 10 kV, 10 A Bipolar Junction Transistors and Darlington Transistors on 4H-SiC,, Mater. Sci. Forum, vol. 645–648, p.1025–1028, Apr. (2010).

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.645-648.1025

[21] A. Salemi, H. Elahipanah, K. Jacobs, C.-M. Zetterling, and M. Ostling, 15 kV-Class Implantation-Free 4H-SiC BJTs With Record High Current Gain,, IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 39, no. 1, p.63–66, Jan. (2018).

DOI: 10.1109/led.2017.2774139

[22] H. Miyake, T. Okuda, H. Niwa, T. Kimoto, and J. Suda, 21-kV SiC BJTs with space-modulated junction termination extension,, IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 33, no. 11, p.1598–1600, (2012).

DOI: 10.1109/led.2012.2215004

[23] H. Miyake, T. Kimoto, and J. Suda, 4H-SiC BJTs with record current gains of 257 on (0001) and 335 on (000-1),, IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 32, no. 7, p.841–843, Jul. (2011).

DOI: 10.1109/led.2011.2142291

[24] P. A. Ivanov et al., High hole lifetime (3.8μs) in 4H-S1C diodes with 5.5 kV blocking voltage,, Electron. Lett., vol. 35, no. 16, p.1382–1383, (1999).

DOI: 10.1049/el:19990897