4.5 kV 4H-SiC diodes with ideal forward characteristic

Abstract

4H-SiC diodes with 4.5 kV blocking and epitaxially grown anode emitters show near theoretical forward voltages of 3.08 V at 100 A/cm/sup 2/ and 4.10 V at 1000 A/cm/sup 2/ at RT (2.96 V and 4.15 V at 125/spl deg/C), while diodes with implanted emitters show 3.5-3.8 V at 100 A/cm/sup 2/ with -4 mV/K. The transient recovery losses (E/sub rec/, Q/sub rr/) are as low as 1/100 of the reference silicon device. Paralleling of the SiC diodes with silicon IGBTs enables 400 A switching, and system loss savings of nearly 50% compared to state-of-art silicon technology.