Design and evaluation of a compact silicon carbide photoconductive semiconductor switch

Colt James; Cameron Hettler; James Dickens

doi:10.1109/TED.2010.2089689

Design and evaluation of a compact silicon carbide photoconductive semiconductor switch

Colt James, Cameron Hettler, James Dickens

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

A high-power vertical photoconductive switch was fabricated from a high-purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC wafer. The device was fabricated from an as-grown wafer with resistivity 10⁹ Ω · cm and had a dark resistance of greater than 6 × 10⁹ Ω. The switch was operated at 15 kV/cm and achieved a peak photocurrent of 14 A into a 25-Ω load. Optimization of the excitation wavelength and switch geometry using an optical parametric oscillator was studied in order to decrease the laser requirements for optical triggering. This has led to a decrease in on-state resistance of almost two orders of magnitude for similar excitation energy levels at visible wavelengths. This work forms the basis for developing very compact high-voltage photoconductive switches.

Original language	English
Article number	5643138
Pages (from-to)	508-511
Number of pages	4
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
Volume	58
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2010.2089689
State	Published - Feb 2011

Keywords

Photoconducting devices
photoconductivity
power semiconductor switches
silicon carbide

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10.1109/TED.2010.2089689

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title = "Design and evaluation of a compact silicon carbide photoconductive semiconductor switch",

abstract = "A high-power vertical photoconductive switch was fabricated from a high-purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC wafer. The device was fabricated from an as-grown wafer with resistivity 109 Ω · cm and had a dark resistance of greater than 6 × 109 Ω. The switch was operated at 15 kV/cm and achieved a peak photocurrent of 14 A into a 25-Ω load. Optimization of the excitation wavelength and switch geometry using an optical parametric oscillator was studied in order to decrease the laser requirements for optical triggering. This has led to a decrease in on-state resistance of almost two orders of magnitude for similar excitation energy levels at visible wavelengths. This work forms the basis for developing very compact high-voltage photoconductive switches.",

keywords = "Photoconducting devices, photoconductivity, power semiconductor switches, silicon carbide",

author = "Colt James and Cameron Hettler and James Dickens",

note = "Funding Information: Manuscript received June 23, 2010; revised August 24, 2010 and October 14, 2010; accepted October 15, 2010. Date of publication November 22, 2010; date of current version January 21, 2011. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research. The review of this paper was arranged by Editor L. Lunardi.",

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AU - Hettler, Cameron

AU - Dickens, James

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N2 - A high-power vertical photoconductive switch was fabricated from a high-purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC wafer. The device was fabricated from an as-grown wafer with resistivity 109 Ω · cm and had a dark resistance of greater than 6 × 109 Ω. The switch was operated at 15 kV/cm and achieved a peak photocurrent of 14 A into a 25-Ω load. Optimization of the excitation wavelength and switch geometry using an optical parametric oscillator was studied in order to decrease the laser requirements for optical triggering. This has led to a decrease in on-state resistance of almost two orders of magnitude for similar excitation energy levels at visible wavelengths. This work forms the basis for developing very compact high-voltage photoconductive switches.

AB - A high-power vertical photoconductive switch was fabricated from a high-purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC wafer. The device was fabricated from an as-grown wafer with resistivity 109 Ω · cm and had a dark resistance of greater than 6 × 109 Ω. The switch was operated at 15 kV/cm and achieved a peak photocurrent of 14 A into a 25-Ω load. Optimization of the excitation wavelength and switch geometry using an optical parametric oscillator was studied in order to decrease the laser requirements for optical triggering. This has led to a decrease in on-state resistance of almost two orders of magnitude for similar excitation energy levels at visible wavelengths. This work forms the basis for developing very compact high-voltage photoconductive switches.

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Design and evaluation of a compact silicon carbide photoconductive semiconductor switch

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