Displacement damage and total ionisation dose effects on 4H-SiC power devices

Abstract

A comprehensive study of displacement damage and total ionisation dose effects on 4H-silicon carbide power devices is presented. Power diodes and transistors produced by different manufacturers were irradiated by high-energy particles (protons, alphas, electrons and neutrons). The influence of radiation on device characteristics was determined, the introduced radiation defects were identified, and the main degradation mechanisms were established. Results show that radiation leads to the creation of acceptor traps in the lightly doped drift regions of irradiated devices. Devices then degrade due to the removal of the carriers and the decrease in carrier mobility and lifetime. For unipolar devices, the gradual increase of the forward voltage is typical while the blocking characteristics remain nearly unchanged. In bipolar devices, high introduction rates of defects cause a sharp reduction of carrier lifetime. This results in shorter carrier diffusion lengths and subsequent loss of conductivity modulation leading to a sharp increase of the forward voltage drop. The irradiation also shifts the threshold voltage of power switches. That is critical, namely for metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors. According to the authors’ study, the junction barrier Schottky diode and junction field-effect transistor (JFET) can be considered the most radiation-resistant SiC power devices.