Feasibility of Efficient Power Switching Using Short-Channel 1200-V Normally-Off SiC VJFETs; Experimental Analysis and Simulations

Abstract:

A recessed implanted-gate short-channel 1290-V normally-OFF 4H-SiC vertical-channel JFET (VJFET), fabricated in seven photolithographic-levels, with a single masked ion-implantation and no epitaxial regrowth, is evaluated for efficient power conditioning. Under unipolar high-current-gain operation, which is required for efficient power switching, the 1200-V N-OFF (enhancement mode) VJFET exhibits prohibitively high on-state resistance. Comparison with 1200-V normally-ON VJFETs, fabricated on the same wafer, confirms experimentally that the strong gate-depletion-region overlap required for 1200-V normally-OFF blocking is the principal contributor to the prohibitively high specific on-state resistance observed under high current-gain VJFET operation. Recessed-implanted-gate VJFET channel-region optimization simulations (assuming a single commercial implantation and no epitaxial-regrowth) revealed that although aggressively increasing channel doping lowers resistance, the corresponding reduction in source mesa-width can prohibitively limit manufacturability.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 645-648)
• Pages: 929-932
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.645-648.929
• Online since: April 2010
• Authors: Victor Veliadis, Harold Hearne, Eric J. Stewart, R. Howell, Aivars J. Lelis, Charles Scozzie
• Keywords: Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET), Normally-Off

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