Seminar on

Semiconductor Physics Advancement For

Power Electronic Devices

Presented by
Piyali Pal
M.Tech (Smart Grid System)
Roll No. 97/ELM/181002
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Presentation Layout
Existing Semiconductor Devices in Power Electronics and Its Applications
Major Challenges for Semiconductor Devices in Power Electronics
Limitations Si Device Technology
Wide Band Gap Device Technology- The Future of Power Electronics
SiC Technology
GaN Technology
Si vs SiC vs GaN
Si, SiC and GaN Positioning as per Power and Frequency
Si, SiC and GaN Positioning as per Operating Voltage
Conclusion

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 Existing Semiconductor Devices in Power Electronics and
Its Applications

Power Diode Power BJT IGBT Power MOSFET

Applications:
 Industrial applications mainly consist of two areas, motor control and power
supplies. The motors which are controlled vary from the very large, as used in steel
mills, to the relatively smaller ones, such as in machine tools.
 Consumer applications cover many different areas in the home, such as audio
amplifiers, heat controls, food mixers and security systems.
 Transportation applications, the largest being motor drives for areas such as electric
vehicles, locomotives and fork-lift trucks. Non-motor drive applications like traffic
signal control, vehicle electronic ignition and vehicle voltage regulation.
Thyristor
 Aerospace and defense applications include VLF transmitters; Power supplies for
space and aircraft; and switching using solid state relays and contactors.
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Major Challenges for Semiconductor Devices in Power Electronics
 Many applications are mission critical and cannot
fail under any circumstances.

 Power circuits must function at both low and high

temperatures.

 Power circuit components operate at high

currents/voltages and high power densities.

 High overall energy efficiency is desired.

 Higher power converter operating frequencies are

necessary to create lighter and smaller modules.

 Low gate driving power.

 Low drain to source leakage current.

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 Limitations Si Device Technology
 Low operating temperature (up to 175° C) – Low power density

 Low breakdown strength – Higher breakdown voltage - higher conduction losses.

 Low thermal conductivity – Junction temperature rises fast with respect to case.

 Higher conduction and switching losses

 High reverse recovery – Not suited for inverter/PFC applications.

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 Wide Band Gap Device Technology- The Future of Power
Electronics
 Wide bandgap semiconductors are a sub-class of semiconductor materials, defined by their larger than Si
bandgap, typically between two to four electron volts (eV).[1]
 There are several wide bandgap materials currently being explored for power conversion: silicon carbide (SiC),
gallium nitride (GaN), gallium oxide (Ga2O3) aluminum nitride (AlN), and diamond.
 These semiconductor materials are also known as third generation semiconductor material.
 In comparison with Si and GaAs as the representative of the second generation it has several features[1]
1. Higher electron mobility and electron saturation velocity: allow for high frequency of operation
2. Higher thermal conductivity – The material conducts heat more efficiently.
3. Higher junction temperature (> 350°C)
4. High critical field: Devices operate at higher voltages and lower leakage currents – low losses

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 SiC Technology
Types of SiC polymorphs
• More than 250 polymorphs of silicon carbide some are amorphous phases observed in thin films and fibers, as well as a large
family of similar crystalline structures called polytypes.[2]
• Mostly used polytype structures for semiconductor devices are 2H SiC, 4H SiC, 6HSiC ,3C SiC.
• 3C-SiC has the highest electron mobility .
• The band gaps differ widely among the polytypes ranging from 2.3 eV for 3C-SiC to 3 eV in 6H SiC to 3.3 eV for 2H-SiC.
• 6H is most easily prepared while the 3C and 4H polytypes are attracting more attention for their superior electronic properties.

2H SiC 4H SiC 6H SiC

3C SiC 7
 SiC Technology
SiC Power Devices[3]
1) SiC Schottky Barrier Diods
 SiC SBDs is continuingly increase the blocking voltage and conduction current ratings. They range from the initial 300 V,
10 A and 600 V, 6 A to the actual 600 V, 20 A and 1.2/1.7 kV.
 It can be advantageously applied for blocking voltages up to 3.5 kV. Large area 3.3 kV SBDs have been fabricated with high-
temperature operations.
 They are well suited for high switching speed applications
because of their absence of reverse recovery charge.
2) SiC Junction Barrier Diodes
 It offers Schottky like on-state and switching characteristics, and PiN-like
off-state characteristics withstand up to 600 v using SiC.
3) SiC PiN Diode
 SiC PiN diodes have a forward voltage of 3.2 V at 180 A (100 A/cm2)
capable of blocking 4.5 kV with a reverse leakage current of 1 μA.
4) SiC JFET
 It offers ultra low specific on-resistance and able to operate at high
temperatures and high frequencies. 8
 SiC Technology
SiC Power Devices
4) SiC JFET
 1.8 kV SiC JFET die has been proposed with a current capability of 15 A at an on-state voltage drop of just 2 V.
5) SiC MOSFET
 Nitridation via NO and N2O annealing of the SiC MOS interface leading to carrier mobilities of 50 cm2/V·s and 73 cm2/V·s.
POCl3-annealed MOSFETs has been proved to have 3 times greater mobility then that of NO-annealed MOSFETs.
 4H-SiC power DMOSFET has been reported , which utilizes a 100 μm thick n-type epitaxial layer have blocking capacity10kV.
 1200 V, 67 A and 3000 V, 30 A 4H-SiC DMOSFETs are commercially available having Rds 80 mΩ.
 CMF20120D — Industry’s First SiC MOSFET to attain record efficiencies with significant reliability improvement over
competing Si devices with a nominal Current of 33/17 A at 25/100°C.
6) SiC BJT
 4 kV, 10 A BJT with a current gain of 34 in the active region have been developed
With a leakage current of 50 μA. The turn-on time is 168 ns and the turn-off time is
106 ns at room temperature.
7) SiC GTO
 The 4.5 kV, 120 A SiCGTO has a chip area of 8 mm×8 mm and was coated with a new high heat resistive resin capable of
operating at 400°C has a very low leakage and a VF of 5 V at 120 A, and turn-on and turn-off times of 0.2 μs and 1.7 μs,9
 GaN Technology
Though SiC excels in high-temperature applications, the material characteristics of GaN are superior in high-efficiency, high-
frequency converters.
GaN Power Devices [4]
1. Vertical Devices :Vertical devices generally require homoepitaxial fabrication,
meaning that the substrate and epitaxial layers are fabricated with the same type of
semiconductor
a) GaN-on-GaN Vertical Devices:
 The first vertical structure has been introduced is Schottky and p-n diodes.
Schottky diodes have been developed with blocking Voltages up to 600 V, Schottky diode p-n diode
as well as p-n diodes up to 1700 V and handle current up to 400 A.
 This device is not yet commercially available.
b) GaN-on-Si Vertical Devices:
 MIT has developed a method of vertical MOSFET and diode fabrication using a
heteroepitaxial structure, by etching through the Si substrate on the bottom side of the
device to expose the GaN drift region. GaN-on-Si MOSFET
 It offers voltage ratings of 200 and 650 V, with ON-resistances of 550 and 290 mΩ.
 This technique combines the performance benefits of vertical GaN MOSFETs with the lower cost of Si wafers. 10
 GaN Technology
2. Lateral Devices: lateral heterojunction field-effect transistors (HFETs), also known as high electron mobility transistors
(HEMTs). These devices are typically rated at 600–650 V
a) Fundamental HFET Structure:
 The substrate is typically Si, to deposit the GaN layer on the substrate, a
buffer layer must be deposited.
 Because of the native 2DEG channel, the HFET is inherently a depletion-mode (normally-ON) device. [5]
b) Cascode Devices:
 A cascode device requires co-packaging of the depletion-mode HFET with a low-voltage e-mode MOSFET, typically Si.
 Here the two dies are connected in such a way that the output (drain–source) voltage of the
MOSFET determines the input (gate–source) voltage of the HFET. Both devices share the
same channel current while on, and the blocking voltage is distributed between them while off.
 Drawbacks: Max. junction temp. limited by Si MOSFET max.
Additional MOSFET channel resistance comes in the series path.
Reverse recovery of the MOSFET body diode.
Relatively larger package due to two devices packed in the same package.
c) Enhancement-Mode Devices :
 Although the 2DEG makes the lateral HFET natively depletion-mode, the gate can be modified to shift the threshold voltage
positively and thereby make an e-mode device.
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 Si vs SiC vs GaN
Performance Comparison
 According to their physical property GaN has the highest
band gap energy. [6]

 According to ON state Resistance GaN has the lowest

achievable Rds(on) for the same die size and voltage rating.
 Currently the Rds(on) achieved so far is in between Si and SiC
limits. It’s a matter of time to be the best in Rds(on).

 According to junction capacitance Si has the highest valued

capacitances.
 GaN has the least valued capacitances, while SiC has the
moderate. [6] 12
 Si vs SiC vs GaN
 According to switching loss GaN has the least
switching losses and hence can be operated at
much higher frequency than SiC devices.

 According to cost trends Si price has reached steady state limit. Not
much cost reduction is expected.
 SiC wafer cost is much higher than GaN. Although, SiC price is
slashing down, GaN price will be even lower. Right now SiC is
around 8 times of Si and GaN is around 5 times of Si.
 With more and more improves technology, considerable price
reduction is expected in GaN

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 Si, SiC and GaN Positioning as per Power and Frequency

This chart highlights the variety of devices and the range of power and frequencies supported by the latest wide band gap
Semiconductors relative to silicon. [7]
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Si, SiC and GaN Positioning as per Operating Voltage

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 Conclusion
 WBG devices (SiC and GaN) are rapidly replacing the Si devices in applications requiring high power density, higher
efficiency.
 GaN is a very successful technology, replacing the traditional Si based technology in RF and Power electronics domain..
 SiC is best suited for >= 1200V, medium frequency and high-power application, while GaN is very successful up to 1200V,
and for very high frequency and medium power application.
 GaN has zero reverse recovery, while SiC has near zero reverse recovery.
 The gate driver circuit of GaN is similar to that of Si MOSFET.
 Commercial power 0.6-1.2 kV GaN Schottky diodes will be available in the market in a very near future.
 It is also expected that the blocking capability of these n-channel power SiC MOS switches will increase up to 20-30 kV in
future.

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Reference
[1] Jerry L. Hudgins “ Power Electronic Devices in the Future” Ieee Journal Of Emerging And Selected Topics In Power
Electronics, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 2013
[2] L. C. Chen, C. K. Chen, S. L. Wei, D. M. Bhusari, K. H. Chen, Y. F. Chen, Y. C. Jong, and Y. S. Huang, “Crystalline silicon
carbon nitride: A wide band gap semiconductor,” Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 72, no. 19, pp. 2463–2465, May 1998.
[3] J. Millán, "A review of WBG power semiconductor devices," CAS 2012 (International Semiconductor Conference), Sinaia,
2016, pp. 57-66.
[4] E. A. Jones, F. F. Wang and D. Costinett, "Review of Commercial GaN Power Devices and GaN-Based Converter Design
Challenges," in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 707-719, Sept. 2018.
[5] E. A. Jones, F. Wang and B. Ozpineci, "Application-based review of GaN HFETs," 2016 IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap
Power Devices and Applications, Knoxville, TN, 2014, pp. 24-29.
[6] S. Chowdhury, Z. Stum, Z. D. Li, K. Ueno, and T. P. Chow, “Comparison of 600V Si, SiC and GaN power devices,” Mater.
Sci. Forum, vols. 778–780, pp. 971–974, 2014.
[7] B. Ozpineci and L. M. Tolbert, “Comparison of wide-bandgap semiconductors for power electronics applications,” Oak
Ridge Nat. Lab., Oak Ridge, TN, USA, Tech. Rep. ORNL/TM-2003/257, 2003.

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THANK YOU

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