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Pulse Performance and Reliability Analysis of a 1.0 cm2 4H-SiC GTO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Heather O'Brien ,
Aderinto Ogunniyi ,
Qingchun Jon Zhang  and
Anant Agarwal
Heather O'Brien
Affiliation:
hobrien@arl.army.mil, US Army Research Lab, Adelphi, Maryland, United States
Aderinto Ogunniyi
Affiliation:
aderinto.ogunniyi@arl.army.mil, US Army Research Lab, Adelphi, Maryland, United States
Qingchun Jon Zhang
Affiliation:
jon_zhang@cree.com, Cree, Inc, Durham, North Carolina, United States
Anant Agarwal
Affiliation:
Anant_Agarwal@cree.com, Cree, Inc, Durham, North Carolina, United States
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Abstract

A 1.0 cm2 silicon carbide Super-GTO was designed and fabricated for Army pulsed power applications. It is a milestone, being the first SiC Super-GTO of this size. The design is the culmination of several years of research into material improvement, termination and gate patterns, optimizing device size, and calibrating pulse performance. The SGTO's forward blocking voltage is 9.0 kV, and its on-state voltage is 2.9 V at turn-on. Six devices were evaluated for pulse capability in a high-energy RLC circuit that was designed to produce a 1-ms wide half-sine shaped pulse. The maximum safe operating current for each of the six Super-GTOs varied from 2.2 kA to 3.4 kA, with 13 V being the typical VAK at a current of 3.0 kA. Two of the GTOs were also tested for pulse reliability and repeatability. They were individually switched in the pulse circuit for >500 pulses at very low duty cycle. This study is base-level research on pulse capability of the newest generation of SiC Super-GTOs and as such strives to identify the defining characteristics of an optimal device as well as the predominant modes of device failure.

Keywords

semiconductingdeviceselectronic structure
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1246: Symposium B – Silicon Carbide 2010-Materials, Processing and Devices , 2010 , 1246-B08-03
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

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References

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