A Brief Overview of SiC MOSFET Failure Modes and Design Reliability

Nel, Barry; Perinpanayagam, Suresh

doi:10.1016/j.procir.2016.09.025

Cited by 44 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Above 400 W/mK the effect of the device's thermal conductivity is negligible compared to the effect of the packaging and heatsink. [124] provides an overview on SiC device reliability issues relating to thermal, packaging and other aspects.…”

Section: F Packaging and Thermal Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities, Challenges, and Potential Solutions in the Application of Fast-Switching SiC Power Devices and Converters

Yuan

Laird

Walder

2021

IEEE Trans. Power Electron.

118

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Power devices based on wide-bandgap (WBG) material such as silicon-carbide (SiC) can operate at higher switching speeds, higher voltages and higher temperatures compared to those based on silicon (Si) material. This paper highlights some opportunities brought by SiC devices in existing and emerging applications in terms of efficiency and power density improvement. While the opportunities are clear, there are also design challenges that must be met in order to realize their full potential. For example, the fast switching speeds and high dv/dt of SiC devices can cause increased electromagnetic interference (EMI), current overshoot, cross-talk effect and have a negative impact on loads such as motors. This paper presents several potential solutions to tackle the application challenges and to fully exploit the superior characteristics of SiC devices and converters while attenuating their negative side-effects. This paper provides an overview of recent SiC device research and development activities based on academic literature, work carried out by the authors and collaborators as well as input from industry. It aims to provide benchmark results and a timely and useful reference to accelerate the adoption and deployment of SiC devices and converters.

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Section: F Packaging and Thermal Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities, Challenges, and Potential Solutions in the Application of Fast-Switching SiC Power Devices and Converters

Yuan

Laird

Walder

2021

IEEE Trans. Power Electron.

118

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“…It should be noted that failure of the MOSFETs account for more than three quarters of the failure of the SBC system regardless of which type of failure scenario is being investigated. According to [13], the main reason MOSFETs fail is due to Electrical Overstress (EOS) which includes Unclamped Inductive Switching (UIS), linear mode operation during switching, and over current. A common outcome is the melting of the die and metal due to burning.…”

Section: Recommendationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Failure Trends on a PID-Controlled Synchronous Buck Converter based Battery Charging Controller

Hasan

Chakraborty

et al. 2020

2020 IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics, Smart Grid and Renewable Energy (PESGRE2020)

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The future trends in renewable energy generation are to select appropriate components and topology for power electronics converters with optimized costs and power density while satisfying the reliability target. This paper evaluates the reliability of a PID-controlled synchronous buck converterbased (SBC) battery charging controller for solar-powered lighting system in a fishing trawler and figure out most failure prone components.This reliability prediction has been developed according to MIL-HDBK-217F(N1/2) handbook models along with performance degradation analysis of individual components. Simulation results have demonstrated that that there are two general failure effects of components in the overall circuit, with the MOSFETs being the most failure prone device for a wide range of temperature; however, the overall system can expect an average operational lifetime of between 5 to 11 years before failing, under worst case scenario.

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“…This is because the electric field developed in the SiO 2 in SiC material (nearly 2.5 times the breakdown strength of SiC i.e., 2.5 x 3 MV/cm) is approximately ten times larger than the electric field developed in the SiO2 in Si material (nearly 3 times the breakdown strength of Si i.e., 3 x 0.25 MV/cm) [1]- [3]. Moreover, the gate oxide thickness is smaller in case of SiC MOSFETs [3], [4]. As a result, the gate oxide could easily reach its reliability limits; therefore, it is extremely important to monitor the effects of gate oxide degradation process in SiC MOSFETs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Precursors of Gate-Oxide Degradation in Silicon Carbide MOSFETs

Karki

Peng

2018

2018 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE)

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Gate oxide degradation is more critical in Silicon-Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs than in Silicon (Si) MOSFETs. This is because of the smaller gate oxide thickness and the higher electric field that develops across the gate oxide in SiC MOSFETs. While multiple precursors have been identified for monitoring the gate oxide degradation in Si MOSFETs, very few precursors have been identified for SiC MOSFETs. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that gate oxide degradation precursors used in Si MOSFETs: a) threshold voltage, b) gate plateau voltage and c) gate plateau time, can also be used as precursors for SiC MOSFETS. Moreover, all three precursors are found to exhibit a simultaneous increasing trend (during the stress time) leading to an increase in on-state loss, switching loss and switching time of the SiC MOSFET. The existing studies of gate oxide degradation mechanisms in SiC MOSFETs, and their effects on threshold voltage and mobility were extended to correlate a variation of all three precursors using analytical expressions. The increasing trends of precursors were experimentally confirmed by inducing gate oxide degradation in commercial SiC MOSFET samples.

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A Brief Overview of SiC MOSFET Failure Modes and Design Reliability

Cited by 44 publications

References 13 publications

Opportunities, Challenges, and Potential Solutions in the Application of Fast-Switching SiC Power Devices and Converters

Opportunities, Challenges, and Potential Solutions in the Application of Fast-Switching SiC Power Devices and Converters

Evaluation of Failure Trends on a PID-Controlled Synchronous Buck Converter based Battery Charging Controller

Precursors of Gate-Oxide Degradation in Silicon Carbide MOSFETs

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