Overview of High Voltage SiC Power Semiconductor Devices: Development and Application

Research on high voltage(HV)silicon carbide(SiC)power semiconductor devices has attracted much attention in recent years.This paper overviews the development and status of HV SiC devices.Meanwhile,benefits of HV SiC devices are presented.The technologies and challenges for HV SiC device application in converter design are discussed.The state-of-the-art applications of HV SiC devices are also reviewed.

A review of manufacturing technologies for silicon carbide superjunction devices

Superjunction technology is believed to reach the optimal specific on-resistance and breakdown voltage trade-off.It has become a mainstream technology in silicon high-voltage metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor devices.Numerous efforts have been conducted to employ the same concept in silicon carbide devices.These works are summarized here.

High current pulse forming network switched by static induction thyristor

A high-current pulse forming network (PFN) has been developed for applications to artificial solar-wind generation. It is switched by staticinduction thyristor (SIThy) and is capable of generating pulsed current of ~9.7 kA for a time duration of ~1 ms. The SIThy switch module ismade that it can be controlled by an optical signal and it can be operated at elevated electrical potential. The experiments reported in this paperused two switch modules connected in series for maximum operating voltage of 3.5 kV. The experimental results have demonstrated a pulsedhigh-current generator switched by semiconductor devices, as well as the control and operation of SIThy for pulsed power application.

Concept and design of super junction devices

The super junction（SJ） has been recognized as the ＂milestone＂ of the power MOSFET, which is the most important innovation concept of the voltage-sustaining layer（VSL）. The basic structure of the SJ is a typical junction-type VSL（J-VSL） with the periodic N and P regions. However, the conventional VSL is a typical resistance-type VSL（R-VSL） with only an N or P region. It is a qualitative change of the VSL from the R-VSL to the JVSL, introducing the bulk depletion to increase the doping concentration and optimize the bulk electric field of the SJ. This paper firstly summarizes the development of the SJ, and then the optimization theory of the SJ is discussed for both the vertical and the lateral devices, including the non-full depletion mode, the minimum specific on-resistance optimization method and the equivalent substrate model. The SJ concept breaks the conventional＂silicon limit＂ relationship of R_（on）∝V_B^（2.5）, showing a quasi-linear relationship of R_（on）∝V_B^（1.03）.

An analysis of the dynamic avalanche mechanism of an improved FCE diode with a deep p^+ adjusting region

An improved field charge extraction （FCE） diode with a deep p＋ adjusting region at the cathode side is studied. The reverse recovery mechanism and electric field gradient are thoroughly analyzed and validated using ISE simulation results. The results show that, based on the premise of ensuring the static characteristics, the improved FCE diode can clearly improve the softness and effectively suppress the peak electric field of the nnjunction at the cathode side during reverse recovery, and thus has a high dynamic avalanche capability compared with conventional FCE diodes.

Review of Technologies for High-Voltage Integrated Circuits

High-Voltage power Integrated Circuits(HVICs) are widely used to realize high-efficiency power conversions(e.g., AC/DC conversion), gate drivers for power devices and LED lighting, and so on. The Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS(BCD) process is proposed to fabricate devices with bipolar, CMOS, and DMOS modes, and thereby realize the single-chip integration of HVICs. The basic integrated technologies of HVICs include High-Voltage(HV) integrated device technology, HV interconnection technology, and isolation technology. The HV integrated device is the core of HVICs. The basic requirements of the HV integrated device are high breakdown voltage, low specific on-resistance,and process compatibility with low-voltage circuits. The REduced SURFace field(RESURF) technology and junction termination technology are developed to optimize the surface field of integration power devices and breakdown voltage. Furthermore, the ENhanced DIelectric layer Field(ENDIF) and REduced BULk Field(REBULF) technologies are proposed to optimize bulk fields. The double/triple RESURF technologies are further developed, and the superjunction concept is introduced to integrated power devices and to reduce the specific on-resistance. This work presents a comprehensive review of these technologies, including the innovation technologies of the authors’ group,such as ENDIF and REBULF, substrate termination technology prospective integrated technologies and HVICs in wide band gap semiconductor materials are also discussed.