Physical mechanisms for gate damage induced by heavy ions in SiC power MOSFET

Busatto, G.; Pasquale, Antonio Di; Marciano, Daniele; Palazzo, Simone; Sanseverino, Annunziata; Velardi, Francesco

doi:10.1016/j.microrel.2020.113903

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In addition, the power devices are sensitive to single-event effects due to the high-rated drain voltage and ease of particles passing through the sensitive region of the device. The most severe challenges currently faced by SiC MOSFETs in the space radiation environment are single-event burnout (SEB) and single-event gate rupture (SEGR) caused by high-energy particles [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Single-event effects can lead to the instantaneous catastrophic failure of the device, impacting the reliability of the spacecraft.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is worth noting that the increased gate-source leakage current I GSS in this region indicated that the device had undergone the SEGR effect. It was concluded that the oxide damage induced by heavy-ion irradiation could be attributed to multiple particle impacts [14,20], high electric fields generated by accumulated holes [21], or localized highpower density [15,19,22]. In Region 1, devices were irradiated at low V DS , the electrical parameters of the device did not change significantly, and the devices were considered to be in the safe operating area [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oxide Electric Field-Induced Degradation of SiC MOSFET for Heavy-Ion Irradiation

et al. 2023

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This work presents an experimental study of heavy-ion irradiation with different particle linear energy transfer (LET), gate biases, and drain biases. The results reveal that when the irradiation biases are low, the SiC MOSFET does not experience single event effect (SEE) and the electrical properties remain unchanged (the devices are in the safe operating area (SOA)). However, the oxide breakdown voltage of the device is significantly decreased due to the latent damage generated by the irradiation. The experimental results, along with TCAD simulations, suggest that the latent damage induced by the irradiation in the gate oxide is closely related to the peak electric field in the gate oxide at the time of particle incidence. This peak electric field is determined by the potential difference between the two sides of the gate oxide, which is affected by the particle LET, gate biases, and drain biases together. The high potential is determined by the combined effect of the LET and the drain-source voltage. The impact ionization of the particle by the applied electric field causes the accumulation of holes in the JFET oxide, which leads to a decrease in the doping of the N− epitaxial layer and eventually causes a rise in the high potential near the JFET oxide. The low potential is determined by the gate bias, and the negative bias applied to the gate can further increase the potential difference between the two sides of the oxide, causing an increase in the peak electric field in the gate oxide and aggravating the gate oxide damage.

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