Experimental and numerical demonstration and optimized methods for SiC trench MOSFET short-circuit capability

Abstract

This paper focused on the investigation of short-circuit capability and failure mechanism for the commercially available SiC trench MOSFETs. There are three failure mechanisms; (1) avalanche generation, (2) thermal runaway and (3) breakdown of gate oxide layer between gate-source electrodes by different short-circuit conditions. These are dependent upon the drain voltage and, especially in the high voltage region, the short-circuit capability could be improved by both the less negative gate-off voltage and cooling from top of the device without sacrifice of R <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ON</sub> A.