High-Yield 4H-SiC Thyristors for Wafer-Scale Interconnection

Abstract

Modern power conditioning systems require large active area devices which can support high currents. Though the breakdown and thermal properties of SiC make it an excellent choice for power switching applications, active area size is currently limited due to material and processing defects. One alternative is to parallel discrete diced die to achieve large active areas. However, this increases cost and complexity through dicing, soldering, and forming multiple wire bonds. Furthermore, paralleling discrete devices increases package volume/weight and reduces power density. To overcome these issues and achieve devices of high current switching capabilities, thyristors were designed and fabricated for the purpose of wafer-scale interconnection - which avoids the need of dicing and bonding and can achieve significant current density improvement over the paralleled diced device approach. Discrete thyristors fabricated for interconnection exhibited excellent yields and good uniformity of both blocking and on-state characteristics, showing great promise for large-scale interconnection.