Electro-thermal Comparative Analysis and Simulation of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Materials for Power Electronic Devices

Abstract

Power electronics switching devices involving Wide Band Gap (WBG) materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) provide a substantial switching level improvements as compared to the silicon (Si) devices. Recently Si MOSFETs are also being superseded by silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) MOSFETs due to their superior performance in high temperature limits. In order to directly compare these two types of MOSFETs we study their various parameters like energy band gap, carrier mobility, saturation velocity and thermal conductivity. A study has also been conducted to see the effect of high temperatures on electrical properties. A circuit analysis tool Pspice is used to study these two types of MOSFETs.