Electrothermal power cycling of 15 kV SiC PiN diodes

Abstract

Through extensive experimental measurements for the static and dynamic characteristics, the commercially available 15 kV Silicon Carbide (SiC) PiN diode are evaluated by power cycling. The forward voltage of diodes is used to indirectly measure the junction temperature. The SiC PiN diodes feature smaller die size, less reverse recovery charge and less on-resistance when compared to the commercially available closely rated Silicon PiN diodes. Nevertheless, during the power cycling experiments, the bipolar degradation and the degradation of contact metallization in SiC PiN diode gives rise to the increase of on-resistance even though its on-state losses is not as high as in the Silicon device. Such degradations are not observed from the Silicon PiN diode for the same junction temperature and the same high-temperature duration.