Superjunction Power Devices, History, Development, and Future Prospects

TLDR

Superjunction, introduced with the IGBT in the 1980s, has become a pivotal concept in power devices, overturning traditional limits on silicon high‑voltage performance. This review examines the history, device and process development, and future prospects of superjunction technologies. It discusses the fundamental physics, technological challenges, design and modeling of unipolar devices such as CoolMOS, compares superjunction to other conductivity‑enhancement methods, and explores its application to terminations, superjunction IGBTs, and silicon carbide FETs.

Abstract

Superjunction has arguably been the most creative and important concept in the power device field since the introduction of the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) in the 1980s. It is the only concept known today that has challenged and ultimately proved wrong the well-known theoretical study on the limit of silicon in high-voltage devices. This paper deals with the history, device and process development, and the future prospects of Superjunction technologies. It covers fundamental physics, technological challenges as well as aspects of design and modeling of unipolar devices, such as CoolMOS. The superjunction concept is compared to other methods of enhancing the conductivity of power devices (from bipolar to employment of wide-bandgap materials) to derive its set of benefits and limitations. This paper closes with the application of the superjunction concept to other structures or materials, such as terminations, superjunction IGBTs, or silicon carbide Field Effect Transistors (FETs).