Thermal stability of silicon-carbide power diodes

Cyril Buttay (1) , Christophe Raynaud (1) , Hervé Morel (1) , Gabriel Civrac (1) , Marie-Laure Locatelli (2) , Florent Morel (1)

1 AMPERE - Ampère
2 LAPLACE-MDCE - Matériaux Diélectriques dans la Conversion d’Energie

Silicon carbide (SiC) power devices can operate at much higher junction temperature than those made of silicon. However, this does not mean that SiC devices can operate without a good cooling system. To demonstrate this, the model of a Merged PiN Schottky (MPS) SiC diode is presented, and its parameters are identified with experimental measurements. This model is then used to study the ruggedness of the diode regarding the thermal run-away phenomenon. Finally, it is shown that where a purely unipolar diode would be unstable, the MPS structure brings increased stability.

Mots clés: Silicon carbide; Power electronics; High temperature techniques; Schottky diodes; P-i-n diodes

Domaines: Energie électrique

Cyril Buttay, Christophe Raynaud, Hervé Morel, Gabriel Civrac, Marie-Laure Locatelli, et al.. Thermal stability of silicon-carbide power diodes. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 2012, 59 (3), pp.761-769. ⟨10.1109/TED.2011.2181390⟩. ⟨hal-00672440⟩