Fulfilling the Promise of High-Temperature Operation with Silicon Carbide Devices: Eliminating bulky thermal-management systems with SJTs

Electronics operating at high temperatures are expected to revolutionize key industries in ways not yet imagined. It will allow aerospace engine applications, actuators and downhole electronics, and vehicle power systems to be squeezed into significantly smaller spaces through reduction or elimination of bulky thermal-management systems. Silicon carbide (SiC) offers great potential for the realization of high-temperature power devices because of its attractive electrical properties, such as wide bandgap, high breakdown electric field, and high thermal conductivity. However, many device structures in SiC are not suitable for use at high temperatures because they are not able to fully exploit these properties to deliver lowleakage currents and superior long-term reliability. In contrast, SiC junction transistors (SJTs) and optimized junction barrier Schottky (JBS) rectifiers have now been demonstrated with superior high-temperature performance due to their intrinsic advantages stemming from these device structures. This article surveys important physical phenomenon that limit high-temperature operation of SiC power devices, and presents experimental results from GeneSiC of higher temperature SiC power device operation.