Aging and failure mechanisms of SiC Power MOSFETs under repetitive short- circuit pulses of different duration
Résumé
With relevance to their short-circuit (SC) failure mode, silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs can be broadly grouped into two main categories: Fail-To-Open (FTO) and Fail-To-Short (FTS). The two different behaviors are exemplified in the results of Fig. 1 a): the former involves a short circuit between the gate and source terminals, which effectively shuts-down the device; the latter features current thermal runaway and collapse of the drain-source voltage, VDS. The specific failure signature is extremely relevant from an application perspective, with a clear preference for FTO type devices, since FTS has the twofold negative implication of discharging any energy storage components (e.g., capacitors) connected to the switches, with oftentimes explosion-like characteristics, and of loss of functionality of a whole module in the case of parallel multi-chip architectures. A study conducted on a number of 1.2 kV-rated commercial devices has produced the results summarized in Fig.
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)