Design Criteria of High-Voltage Lateral RESURF JFETs on 4H-SiC

Abstract

Integrated power electronics on SiC have great potential in future power electronics applications. In this paper, a novel vertical channel lateral junction field-effect transistor structure with reduced surface electric field effect is proposed for the first time on 4 H-SiC to address existing challenges in lateral power devices on SiC. Based on an experimentally proven channel design, the detailed design procedure of such a device has been investigated. Design criteria to optimize device forward blocking as well as conduction characteristics are studied. Parameter tolerance and design windows are discussed considering practical issues in device fabrication. Designs that will lead to an optimized tradeoff between device breakdown voltage and specific on-resistance are shown. With an 8-/spl mu/m-long drift region, a 1535-V breakdown voltage and 3.24 m/spl Omega//spl middot/cm/sup 2/ specific on-resistance can be achieved. This represents a figure-of-merit of 737 MW/cm/sup 2/, about 100 times higher than that of the best normally off lateral power devices reported in the literature. The proposed device can be an attractive candidate for power integrated circuit on SiC.