Short-Circuit Degradation of 10-kV 10-A SiC MOSFET

Investigation on damaged planar-oxide of 1200 V SiC power MOSFETs in non-destructive short-circuit operation

“…Moreover, the gate-source voltage drop into R G caused by the gate current rise can explain the maximum saturation current decrease. However, the lower saturation current could also be explained by a decrease of the channel mobility [2] or a threshold voltage raise [3].…”

“…After extensive bibliographic researches, two papers presenting physical investigation on SiC power MOSFETs chips stressed by similar SC tests [2,7] have been found. The results, depicted in Fig.…”

“…9(a), confirm that the top aluminium is presenting signs of melting and migration due to the thermal stress applied during the SC operation. In [2], the component does not have a permanent gate leakage current but a saturation current decrease. At the opposite, results in Fig.…”

“…(a) SEM image of degraded 10 kV 10 A 4H-SiC MOSFET, aluminium metallization at the source contact region between two cells[2]. (b) SEM image of the defect FIB cut localised by IR lock-in thermography.…”

Reliable Control of Direct PWM AC-AC Buck Converter With Short Circuit Protection

“…Another a critical issue of power converters is the protection under abnormal conditions, especially when they experience short circuit faults [24,25]. The poor overcurrent capability of semiconductors, with a typical tolerance of two to three times the nominal current for a few tens of microseconds, renders the converters to be susceptible to high fault currents and thus would lead to catastrophic destruction [26,27].…”