Superior Short-Circuit Performance of SiC Superjunction MOSFET

This study demonstrated the short-circuit performance of 1.2 kV-class silicon carbide (SiC) trench-gate superjunction MOSFET (SJ-UMOSFET) through experiments and numerical simulation. The SJ structure showed a substantially improved trade-off between specific on-resistance and short-circuit capability when compared with a conventional UMOSFET, especially at a high temperature (175 degrees C), owing to the low temperature coefficient of the specific on-resistance. Furthermore, the electro-thermal simulation showed that the SJ-UMOSFET exhibited a larger distance from an internal hot spot to the source metal contact than the UMOSFET; this increase in distance contributed to the improved short-circuit capability demonstrated in the experiment.