Reliability concerns in contemporary SiC power devices

Abstract

This paper attempts to show some of the reliability issues faced by contemporary SiC power devices. Material defects in SiC are the cause of many reliability issues in the SiC devices, such as (a) reduced critical electric field in devices, (b) higher leakage currents during reverse bias operation and (c) degradation in the on-state performance of bipolar devices. Detailed experiments conducted on SiC devices have shown that the on-state voltage drop on these devices increases with time when they are kept in the forward biased mode for appreciable length of time.