Degradation Mechanisms in SiC Bipolar Junction Transistors

SiC power bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) are believed to have the potential of operating reliably at much higher junction temperatures as compared to SiC MOSFETs. The obstacle for commercialization of SiC BJTs is the presence of degradation in both on-resistance and current gain, first detected by Agarwal et al. The recombination-induced stacking faults (SFs) were a prime suspect but no clear experimental proof was provided. In this paper, for the first time, we provide an experimental evidence of the recombination- induced SFs in SiC BJTs, and correlation with device characteristics.