Precursors of Gate-Oxide Degradation in Silicon Carbide MOSFETs
Abstract
Gate-oxide degradation is more critical in Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs than in Silicon (Si) MOSFETs. This is because of the smaller gate-oxide thickness and the higher electric field that develops across this thinner gate oxide in SiC MOSFETs. While multiple precursors (indicators) have been identified for monitoring the gate-oxide degradation process in Si MOSFETs, very few have been identified for their SiC counterparts. The purpose of this digest is to demonstrate that the gate-oxide degradation precursors used in Si MOSFETs: a) gate plateau voltage and b) gate plateau time, can also be used as precursors for SiC MOSFETS. Moreover, the precursors are found to exhibit a simultaneous increasing trend (during the stress time) leading to an increase in on-state loss, switching loss and switching time of the SiC MOSFET. The existing studies of gate-oxide degradation mechanisms in SiC MOSFETs, and their effects on threshold voltage and mobility were extended to correlate a variation of precursors using analytical expressions. The increasing trends of precursors were experimentally confirmed by inducing gate-oxide degradation in a commercial SiC MOSFET.
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In HTGB, TDDB and BTI are expected to contribute to oxide aging.
“Therefore, TDDB and BTI are expected to contribute to oxide aging [33], [58].”
From AC Power Cycling Test Setup and Condition Monitoring Tools for SiC-Based Traction Inverters (2023) · cites this paper as [58]
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- Authors
- Karki, U., & Peng, F. Z.
- Affiliations
- Michigan State University (US)
- Venue
- 2018 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE)
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2018-09
- Pages
- 857-861
- OpenAlex
- W2905288154
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 3.99
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Silicon Carbide Semiconductor Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Semiconductor materials and devices
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Radiation Effects in Electronics
- Keywords
- gate oxide degradation, SiC MOSFET, on-state losses, switching losses, switching time, threshold voltage shift, carrier mobility degradation, gate oxide reliability
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