Review of Silicon Carbide Processing for Power MOSFET

TLDR

Silicon carbide’s superior properties—higher breakdown voltage, thermal conductivity, operating frequency and temperature, and saturation drift velocity—make it attractive for power applications such as smart energy vehicles, converters, inverters, and power supplies, and SiC MOSFETs are favored for lower on‑resistance, reduced switching losses, and high switching speeds compared to silicon. The paper reviews critical processing steps for manufacturing SiC MOSFETs, types of devices, and power applications. It also briefly summarizes reliability issues of SiC power MOSFETs.

Abstract

Owing to the superior properties of silicon carbide (SiC), such as higher breakdown voltage, higher thermal conductivity, higher operating frequency, higher operating temperature, and higher saturation drift velocity, SiC has attracted much attention from researchers and the industry for decades. With the advances in material science and processing technology, many power applications such as new smart energy vehicles, power converters, inverters, and power supplies are being realized using SiC power devices. In particular, SiC MOSFETs are generally chosen to be used as a power device due to their ability to achieve lower on-resistance, reduced switching losses, and high switching speeds than the silicon counterpart and have been commercialized extensively in recent years. A general review of the critical processing steps for manufacturing SiC MOSFETs, types of SiC MOSFETs, and power applications based on SiC power devices are covered in this paper. Additionally, the reliability issues of SiC power MOSFET are also briefly summarized.