A Simulation-Based Comparison Between Si and SiC MOSFETs on Single-Event Burnout Susceptibility

Abstract

This paper presents the simulation-based comparison between silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs on the single-event burnout (SEB) performance for the first time. The safe operation areas (SOAs) regarding SEB are extracted and compared between the two structures when the heavy ions with a different linear energy transfer (LET) strike the sensitive areas of the devices. It is demonstrated that benefiting from the higher doped drift region, SiC MOSFET has a larger SEB threshold voltage than Si MOSFET at low LET range. However, it is the other way around at high LET range, which is attributed to the thicker epitaxy of Si MOSFET. The introduction of buffer layer to enhance the SEB hardness is also discussed. Results indicate that a thicker buffer layer is required for SiC MOSFET to enlarge the SOA, resulting in a more serious degradation of the specific ON-resistance (R <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ON,sp</sub> ). Consequently, other hardening solutions need to be further explored to ensure the safe operation of SiC MOSFET in space applications.