Current Status of SiC Power Semiconductor Devices
Umesh Singh
Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida
umeshp@knights.ucf.edu
Abstract— SiC materials and technology has entered a new era
with the commercialization of the first 1200 V/ 33 A power
MOSFET by Cree, Inc. This paper is written to give an overview
of current status and the recent progress in the development of
high-voltage SiC power material and devices. Current main
issues and challenges on materials and processing are discussed.
A detailed review of current situation and trends in SiC power
rectifiers and switches is provided. Performance and cost related
issues are discussed to give an explanation and understanding of
more slowly developing SiC market.
Keywords- POWER, SIC DEVICE, JBS, BJT, MOSFET
I. INTRODUCTION
Silicon has long been the dominant semiconductor of
choice for high-voltage power electronics applications [1, 2].
It was recognized in the late 1980s that power switching
devices in silicon were approaching their fundamental limits
imposed by the low breakdown field of material [3].
Therefore, to extend these limits significantly the power
devices should be fabricated in a material with higher
breakdown electric fields such as silicon carbide (SiC).
Silicon carbide (SiC), with higher field characteristics, is
one of promising for choice for advanced next-generation high
power, high temperature and high frequency applications due
to its excellent electrical and physical properties: [4]
1) SiC has a high electric breakdown property, which will
support a very voltage across a thin layer.
2) SiC has a high carrier drift velocity, which is essential
for high frequency operation particularly for minority carrier
driven bipolar devices.
3) SiC has a high thermal conductivity realizing high
temperature operation and better thermal management of
power control applications.
4) The native oxide of SiC being SiO2, the same oxide as
silicon, the whole family of MOS gated power devices used in
silicon, i.e. the power MOSFET and the IGBT, can all be
fabricated in SiC.
5) Broad range of devices and applications (power
electronics, high frequency electronics optoelectronics, high
temperature electronics etc.)
Table 1 summaries the physical and electrical properties
of SiC [5]. Due to these superior material properties have
made SiC promising candidate for various power
semiconductor devices and can give better performance than
silicon power devices e.g., the on-resistance of SiC can be 700
times lower than similar silicon devices.
TABLE 1. PHYSICAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF VARIOUS
SEMICONDUCTORS FOR POWER DEVICE APPLICATIONS.
II. MATERIALS AND DEVICE PROCESSING:
COMMERCIALIZATION OF SIC TECHNOLOGY
The challenges for the commercialization of SiC power
devices are the fabrication of the defect free material (crystals
and wafers) and necessary growth of epitaxial layers. Material
itself is identified as the cost driver. Materials involve both the
fabrication of substrates as well as necessary growth of
epitaxial layers. Both technologies have shown dramatic
improvements in cost and quality over the few years[6].
Micropipes, considered to be an intrinsic defect for SiC in past
years, is no longer a major concern for today’s substrate. Of
course, still we do not have defect free wafers as the SiC
technology is suffering somewhat from the fact that work on
defect structures other than the famous micropipes started
quite late. It happened to start only a few years ago and was
mainly triggered by the bipolar degradation effects first
observed by ABB in SiC diodes [7]. The advances in
micropipes defect density for SiC substrates is illustrated in
Fig. 1, with average production in the range of 7
micropipes/cm2 on 3-inch diameter 4H-SiC wafers. This
improved quality is what has allowed high volume production
of SiC Schottky diodes on 3 inch SiC wafers with high yields
[8].
Other main factor contributing to the high cost of material
is the available size of SiC wafers. It must be realized that the
mass fabrication helps to achieve lower costs. Cree is the
leading supplier of SiC material wafers for optoelectronic and
power device technology in the 3 inch diameter size market by
using only one polytype for both applications, namely 4H-SiC.
Recently Cree introduced the 4 inch size SiC substrates for
power devices [9].The introduction of 100 mm or 4 inch
substrates can be the turning point for SiC device production i) Schottky diodes (SBD) with extremely high switching
since much of the equipment used for processing Si can also speed but lower blocking voltage and high leakage current.
be used for SiC [10-12]. Nevertheless, the technical challenges
especially in view of the comparatively easy growth of silicon ii) PIN diodes with high-voltage operation and low leakage
cannot be neglected. current, but showing reverse-recovery charging during
switching.
As far as the growth of SiC crystals goes, the main process
techniques currently used to grow by all players in this field of iii) Junction Barrier Schottky (JBS) diodes with Schottky-
SiC are based on vapor phase techniques, such as sublimation like on-state and switching characteristics and pin-like off-
(Physical vapor transport) [13], which is time consuming and state characteristics.
yields short crystals. Alternatives, such as the high- TABLE II. COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SCHOTTKY RECTIFIERS
temperature chemical vapor deposition (HTCVD) process Manufacture VBR If Vf IR
have as yet to prove that they are a competitive solution [14-
CREE 1700V 25A 3.2V@175oC 50µA
16].
CREE 1200V 50A 2.5V@ 75oC 200µA
Infineon 600 16A 1.7V@150ºC 10µA
Infineon 1200 15A 2.5@150 ºC 360µA
Microsemi 1200 5A 1.8@25 ºC 100µA
Rohms 1200 20A
Semelab 1200V 24A

SiC based power Schottky barrier rectifiers (SBD) are

commercially available since 2001. Table II summarizes the
commercially available SBDs from various manufactures [18-
Figure 1. The evolution of micropipe density in best R & D wafers from Cree 22]. The most remarkable and noteworthy advantage of SiC
Research. SBDs is the continuing improvement in blocking voltage and
All the SiC power devices require at least one epitaxial conduction current ratings, ranging from the initial
layer with controlled doping and thickness to be grown on top development of 300V, 10A and 600V, 6A to the current
of the highly doped substrates. Therefore, comparable standing of 600V, 20A and 1200 V, 10 A devices. Recently
considerations are valid for epitaxial growth process. The Cree launches a commercial SBD with highest blocking
major limiting factor for the quality of SiC epitaxial thin films voltage of 1700 V with current of 10 and 25 A [18].These
is the substrate material itself. With increasing diameter, the devices are usable in Power Factor Correction (PFC) and High
importance of the epitaxial growth process regarding technical Voltage Secondary Side Rectification application.
and cost issues will increasingly dominate the substrate
situation. Thus, the challenges for material technology are
well defined.
To date, SiC LEDs, diodes, FETs, and numerous other
components have already been in commercial production, and
many other electronic devices are followed to join them in not
too distant future. The current state of SiC semiconductor
technology can be related to the silicon technology in the late
1970s. Wafers are typically in size of less or in 4 in.,
defective and costly, and process techniques are in the
development stage. But unlike the early days of silicon device
processing, wide-band-gap technology developers can learn
from more than 30 years of materials processing development
and fabrication improvements [17].
Figure 2. I–V characteristics of 4H-SiC pin rectifiers made on 2 • 1014 cm3,
III. S IC P OWER DEVICES 120 µm (type A) and 8 • 1013 cm3, 200 µm (type B) epilayers.
Due to the significant improvements and achievements in
bulk material growth and device processing technology, many A 10x increase voltage blocking is possible with same SiC
high voltage SiC based two terminal and three-terminal drift layer thickness while comparing counterpart Si. Epitaxial
devices have already been demonstrated and commercially grown 4H-SiC pin junction rectifiers junctions have been
available. shown the best forward I–V characteristics rather implanted
junctions. Fig. 2 shows the I–V characteristics of 4H-SiC
A. Power Rectifiers junction rectifiers with the highest BV as recorded so far (19
Power rectifiers are generally classified in three classes as kV) [23].
written below:

Figure. 3. Reverse recovery current waveforms measured on 15 kV (type A)
and 19 kV (type B), 4H-SiC junction rectifiers and comparison to that of a 0.4
kV Si junction rectifier.
Another distinctive property these diodes have compared
to ultra-fast Si pin diodes is the absence of reverse recovery
charge. In Fig. 3, typical reverse recovery waveforms of 15kV
and 19kV pin diodes are shown along with Si rectifiers.
Therefore, SiC junction diodes are well suited and can be
useful for high switching power applications. The SiC diodes
suffer from reliability issue of VF drift or bipolar degradation
created by stacking faults into the active region. Very high
quality of material is required to avoid the bipolar degradation
in pin diodes [24].
Figure 4. Comparison of I–V characteristics of planar 4H-SiC Schottky
and JBS rectifiers.
Schottky and junction diodes are the established products
with blocking voltage from 300 V up to 1200 V. However,
they are still restricted in number of application because of
cost and performance ratio. One of the main complications in
Schottky diode is the Schottky barrier lowering at high reverse
voltages leading to the excessive reverse leakage current,
particularly at elevated temperatures. To overcome this
problem a new structure was proposed by Infineon called
Junction barrier Schottky (JBS) rectifiers and utilizes adjacent
pn junctions to prevent the electric field from rising at the
Schottky junctions [25]. JBS diodes have Schottky like
switching characteristics and pin like low leakage current.
This structure has been explored for SiC up to 3.7 kV, with a
forward drop of 6 V and a specific on-resistance of 43 mΩ
cm2 [1, 26] (see Fig. 4).
Various power modules for purchase are also available
where SiC diodes are combined with Si MOSFETs and IGBTs
to give better performance in terms of high frequency and high
power applications from different manufactures such as CREE
and Microsemi [27, 28]. These are useful in Power Factor
Correction (PFC) and motor control applications.
B. Power Switches
The first SiC power transistors were vertical trench U-
shape MOSFETs (UMOSFETs) reported by Cree Research in
1992. Regarding the SiC active switches in development, the
main research focus now is directed at the Unipolar devices of
JFET and MOSFET for voltages starting from 600 V up to
approximately 2 kV, with a clear target of 1.2 kV blocking
voltage, although higher voltage level devices are also under
study and development . GTOs and thyristors are under
development for very high blocking voltages mostly for the
military applications [4].
1). Unipolar Transistors
SiC Power MOSFETs possess strong advantages over Si-
MOSFETs because of higher doping and short channel region
which led to the decrease into the specific on-resistances RON
that is as low as 1/300th comparing to Si-MOSFETs as shown
in Fig. 5.
Figure 5. Specific on-resistance vs. BV for vertical MOSFETs and other
unipolar FETs.
Comparing to the SiC diodes, the commercialization of
SiC power switches is much more challenging and complex
issue. There exist technological challenges as well as
competition to the Si power devices since Si devices dominate
the market for blocking voltages up to 800 V. The RON of a Si
CoolMOS at present 47mΩ for 600V is far below
accomplished by SiC device with reasonable chip sizes with
the price level clearly below that estimated for SiC devices.
With breaking voltage about 1000V Si IGBTs are in
competition with SiC devices since Si MOSFETs are rare in
this rating. The potential of SiC devices compared to IGBTs
can be found in switching application with frequency above
20 kHz and also in applications where the threshold voltage claims this device has the minimum turn-off energy loss as
(Vce sat) of IGBTs degrades the efficiency under partial load compared to all other devices [33].
conditions, such as 30% to 70% of the full current. Since
IGBTs for a given current handling capability are much
cheaper than silicon MOSFETs with comparable current
handling capabilities, a much higher price difference
compared to the considerations made for silicon MOSFETs vs.
SiC field effect transistors (FETs) must be justified in the
applications.
In January 2011 Cree, Inc. launches industries first
commercial SiC MOSFET with VD =1200, RON = 80 mΩ and
ID = 33 A for the application in solar Inverter, high voltage
DC/DC converters and motor drives. Cree claims it has lower
RON then Si-MOSFETs and lowest switching loss in its class
[29]. Other SiC Power MOSFETs are under development and
test samples are available from various manufactures such as:
Rohm, Denso and Infineon [30, 31].

Figure 7. SiCED hybrid Si/SiC cascode electronic switch.

SiC VJFETs in both normally-on and normally-off

operation are also under development from various
manufactures (Semelab and SemiSouth) and available as test
samples [34, 35].

Figure 6. Increase of the RON with temperature for SiC VJFETs compared to
silicon CoolMOS technology.

SiC JFET are also able to offer very low on-resistances.

Since the main current path is not influenced by the interfaces
between the semiconductor and an insulator RON can be as low
as five times then the silicon MOSFETs. For the power
application the RON at operating temperature is relevant and
SiC FETs shows weaker increase of RON with temperature
compared to silicon devices so the advantage regarding the
area specific RON is even more favor of SiC, which make them Figure 8. Output characteristics of 4H–SiC BJTs at 25 °C, 150 °C and 300 °C,
more favorable device as shown in Fig. 6. respectively.

SiCED/Infineon developed the first 1.2 kV, normally-on
SiC vertical JFET with an on-state resistance of 50 mΩ. This
device shows outstanding performance in applications and as
proven ruggedness, for example, an outstanding cosmic-
resistance and avalanche performance [6]. The main problem
of this device is normally on behavior, therefore, more power
loss. The question arises, whether a normally on device is an
option to replace commonly used normally off devices. Since
all commercial available driving concepts rely on normally off
power switches. SiCED/Infineon used cascode principle to
realize a normally off hybrid switch using normally on VJFET
with Si MOSFET as shown in Fig. 7 [32]. SiCED/Infineon
2). Bipolar Transistors
The main advantages of SiC BJTs as power switch is its
very low on-state losses combined with fast switching even at
extremely high temperatures because of the carrier density
arising from the injection of electrons and holes. This
characteristic makes them attractive for different applications
such as, automotive. BJTs are under development for blocking
voltages 3.5 to 6.5 kV and above. Unlike Si BJT, SiC BJT
does not suffer from a secondary breakdown. However, the
achievable current gain and its drop with temperature limit the
performance of BJTs [36]. Bipolar degradation has been a
concern regarding the applications of SiC BJTs. The root
cause of bipolar degradation in SiC BJT has been poorly
understood. Recent studies show that main cause is the growth
of stacking faults in the low-doped collector region [37]. Fig.
8 shows the output characteristics of 4H–SiC BJTs at 25 °C,
150 °C and 300 °C, respectively [38]. Transic is the only
company which developed the SiC BJTs for commercial
purpose for blocking voltage of 1200 V [39].
The MOSFET devices suffer with the low channel mobility
and reliability issue of oxide interface while the BJT has the
degradation of current gain due to stacking faults. IGBT
combine MOSFET with BJT and has the possibility of
improvement in channel mobility and also conductivity
modulation. Power switch research and development based on
the SiC is mainly focused on FET devices and is not very
active in the field of SiC IGBTs. The state of the art SiC IGBT
was developed by CREE in 2008 with the blocking voltage of
12 kV and RON of 48 mΩ•cm2 [36, 40].
IV. CONCLUSION
A review of today’s state of the art high power device
performance in SiC has been presented in this paper. Early
predictions of replacing silicon power devices by SiC devices
were too optimistic. Considerable amount of effort is required
in terms of bringing the cost-performance ratio down and, to
improve the material processing and fabrication technology.
Nevertheless, SiC found its way into power electronics.
Diodes are well established in the market. Power switching
devices are also commercially available from various
companies. Power modules combining Si switches with SiC
diodes are also available for different applications.
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