Modeling and Simulation of High Blocking Voltage in 4H Silicon Carbide Bipolar Junction Transistors

Hamid Fardi *

Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, USA

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.


Abstract

For a given breakdown voltage, the drift region thickness and doping concentration of punch-through structure can be optimized to give the lowest specific on-resistance. An optimization scheme performed for a breakdown voltage of 14 kV in 4H-SiC bipolar junction transistor (BJT) at 300 K. The optimum drift region thickness and doping concentration for a 4H-SiC punch-through structure at different breakdown voltages are presented. The optimum drift region thickness and doping concentration are 114 μm and , respectively, which results in the lowest specific on-resistance of 117 mΩcm2. The specific on-resistance is compared with the theoretical specific on-resistance of non punch-through structure. It is shown that the optimized punch-through structure not only has a thinner drift region, but also has a slightly lower specific on-resistance than non punch-through structure. The model is applied and compared to a measured 4H-SiC bipolar transistors with high blocking voltage and results are discussed. The experimental 4H-SiC BJT is able to block 1631 V at 300 K and 2033 V at 523 K, respectively and when the base is open. The simulated blocking voltage when base is open is slightly lower (1600 V at 300 K) than the experimental value due to the current-amplifying properties of the common-emitter BJT.

 

Keywords: Device modeling, silicon carbide, bipolar junction transistors


How to Cite

Fardi, Hamid. 2015. “Modeling and Simulation of High Blocking Voltage in 4H Silicon Carbide Bipolar Junction Transistors”. Physical Science International Journal 7 (3):127-36. https://doi.org/10.9734/PSIJ/2015/17567.