Radiation-Induced Trapped Charging Effects in SiC Power MOSFETs

Abstract

Commercial SiC MOSFETs were exposed to ionizing radiation to characterize the radiation response and to compare the observed threshold voltage (VT) instability post-radiation exposure, with the VT instability following bias temperature stress (BTS) testing. As expected, a large number of positively charged oxide traps were present in these devices following irradiation, resulting in a significant negative VT shift. However, the observed VT instability following irradiation was much smaller than that for similarly processed devices exposed to a BTS. Irradiated devices subjected to unbiased thermal treatments experienced a significant annealing of trapped holes above 100 °C. However, isochronal annealing treatments did not significantly alter the number of switching oxide traps, suggesting that a large portion of the traps activated by irradiation may lie deeper within the SiO2, beyond the tunneling distance from the SiC.