Reliable operation of SiC junction-field-effect-transistor subjected to over 2 million 600-V hard switch stressing events

B. Steiner, S. B. Bayne, V. Veliadis, H. C. Ha, D. Urciuoli, N. El-Hinnawy, P. Borodulin, C. Scozzie

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

A necessity for the successful commercialization of SiC power devices is their long term reliability under the switching conditions encountered in the field. Normally-ON 1200 V SiC JFETs were stressed in repetitive hard-switching conditions to determine their fault handling capabilities. The switching pulses were generated from an RLC circuit, where energy initially stored in capacitors discharges through the JFET into a resistive load. The hard-switching included one million repetitive pulsed hard-switching events at 25 °C from a drain blocking-voltage of 600 V to an on-state current of 67 A, and an additional one million 600-V/63-A pulsed hard-switching events at 150 °C. The JFET conduction and blocking-voltage characteristics are virtually unchanged after over two million hard switching events proving the devices are reliable for handling high surge- current faults like those encountered in bidirectional circuit breaker applications.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSilicon Carbide and Related Materials 2012, ECSCRM 2012
EditorsAlexander A. Lebedev, Sergey Yu. Davydov, Pavel A. Ivanov, Mikhail E. Levinshtein
PublisherTrans Tech Publications Ltd
Pages921-924
Number of pages4
ISBN (Print)9783037856246
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013
Event9th European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials, ECSCRM 2012 - St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Duration: Sep 2 2012Sep 6 2012

Publication series

NameMaterials Science Forum
Volume740-742
ISSN (Print)0255-5476
ISSN (Electronic)1662-9752

Conference

Conference9th European Conference on Silicon Carbide and Related Materials, ECSCRM 2012
Country/TerritoryRussian Federation
CitySt. Petersburg
Period09/2/1209/6/12

Keywords

  • 1200-V
  • 4H-SiC
  • Bidirectional
  • Fault isolation
  • Four quadrant
  • Hard switching
  • High temperature
  • High voltage
  • JFET
  • Normally-ON
  • Pulsing
  • Reliability
  • Vertical channel

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