Practical Aspects and Body Diode Robustness of a 1200 V SiC Trench MOSFET

An increasingly number of power electronic applications in the field of DC/DC or solar inverters is making use of the Silicon Carbide MOSFET, especially in the device voltage class of 1200 V and above. At these voltages bipolar switches like the well understood IGBT are state of the art. The paper investigates the main electrical differences between IGBT and SiC trench MOSFET and physical aspects which go hand in hand with new device generations, for example the more pronounced short channel effect or the VGS(th) hysteresis. The impact on device characteristics is explained and the robustness of the device under short circuit and body diode surge current and commutation safeoperating area is shown.