Integration of Temperature and Current Sensors in 4H-SiC VDMOS

Silicon Carbide VDMOS with integrated current and temperature sensors have been successfully fabricated without degradation of the chip forward or reverse characteristics due to the sensors. The temperature sensors show impedance correlated to the temperature, which permits to track the drift region’s temperature of the device. We have shown that the sensor current ratio can be influenced by the current spreading in the drift layer, especially when the channel resistance contribution is reduced. This aspect will be more critical on VDMOS with low channel resistance. Also, the sensor current ratio stability will be improved on devices with larger active area or thinner drift layer. Integration of such sensors will permit to monitor and protect innovative power electronic systems using SiC chips.