Recent Advances in Silicon Carbide Device Based Power MOSFETs

Abstract

Silicon Carbide (SiC) has revolutionized the semiconductor power devices. It is a wide band gap semiconductor with an energy gap wider than 2eV and possesses extremely high power high voltage switching characteristics, high thermal, chemical and mechanical stability. The SiC wafers are available in 6H, 4H, 2H and 3C polytypes. Because of its wide band gap, the leakage current of SiC is many orders of magnitude lower than in Silicon. Also forward resistance of SiC power devices is approximately 200 times lower than conventional silicon devices. The breakdown voltage of SiC is 8-10 times higher than that of Silicon. In this paper DIMOSFET, UMOSFET and Lateral Power MOSFET are discussed along with their characteristics and applications. Different Crystal structures used for SiC are also highlighted in this paper.