Reliability of SiC Power Devices against Cosmic Ray Neutron Single-Event Burnout

Article Preview

Abstract:

High-energy neutrons produced by cosmic ray interactions with our atmosphere are known to cause single-event burnout (SEB) failure in power devices operating at high fields. We have performed accelerated high-energy neutron SEB testing of SiC and Si power devices at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANCSE). Comparing Wolfspeed SiC MOSFETs having different voltage (900V – 3300V) and current (3.5A – 72A) ratings, we find a universal behavior when scaling failure rates by active area, and scaling drain bias by avalanche voltage. Moreover, diodes and MOSFETs behave similarly, revealing that the SiC drift dominates the failure characteristics for both device types. This universal scaling holds for SiC MOSFETs from other manufacturers as well. The SEB characteristics of Si power IGBT and MOSFET devices show that near their rated voltages failure rates of Si devices can be 10X higher than that of comparable SiC MOSFET devices. Thus, Si devices are more susceptible to SEB failure from voltage overshoot conditions.

You might also be interested in these eBooks

Info:

Periodical:

Pages:

559-562

Citation:

Online since:

June 2018

Export:

Price:

* - Corresponding Author

[1] E. Normand, D. L. Oberg, J. L. Wert, J. D. Ness, P. P. Majewski, S. Wender, and A. Gavron, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 41 (1994) 2203.

DOI: 10.1109/23.340563

Google Scholar

[2] H. R. Zeller, Sol. State Electron. 38 (1995) (2041).

Google Scholar

[3] J. F. Ziegler, IBM J. Res. Develop. 40 (1996) 19.

Google Scholar

[4] A. Akturk, R. Wilkins, J. McGarrity, and B. Gersey, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 64 (2017) 529.

Google Scholar

[5] N. Kaminski, A. Kopta, Failure rates of HiPak modules due to cosmic rays, Application Note 5SYA 2042-04 (2013).

Google Scholar

[6] S. Liu, M. Boden, D. A. Girdhar, and J. L. Titus, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 53 (2006) 3379.

Google Scholar

[7] S. Liu, J. L. Titus, C. DeCienzo, H. Cao, M. Zafrani, M. Boden, and R. Berberian, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 55 (2008) 3122.

DOI: 10.1109/tns.2008.2006841

Google Scholar

[8] G. Soelkner, W. Kaindl, M. Treu, and D. Peters, Mat. Sci. Forum, 556-557 (2007) 851.

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.556-557.851

Google Scholar

[9] H. Asai, I. Nashiyama, K. Sugimoto, K. Shiba, Y. Sakaide, Y. Ishimaru, Y. Okazaki, K. Noguchi, and T. Morimura, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 61 (2014) 3109.

DOI: 10.1109/tns.2014.2371892

Google Scholar

[10] A. Bolotnikov et al., Proc, IEEE Appl. Power Electron. Conf. Expos. (2015) 2445-2452.

Google Scholar