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Perimeter Governed Minority Carrier Lifetimes in 4H-SiC p(+)-n Diodes Measured by Reverse Recovery Switching Transient AnalysisMinority carrier lifetimes in epitaxial 4H-SiC p(+)-n junction diodes were measured via an analysis of reverse recovery switching characteristics. Behavior of reverse recovery storage time (t(s)) as a function of initial ON-state forward current (I(F)) and OFF-state reverse current (I(R)) followed well-documented trends which have been observed for decades in silicon p-n rectifiers. Average minority carrier (hole) lifetimes (tau(p)) calculated from plots of t(s) vs I(R)/I(F) strongly decreased with decreasing device area. Bulk and perimeter components of average hole lifetimes were separated by plotting 1/tau(p) as a function of device perimeter-to- area ratio (P/A). This plot reveals that perimeter recombination is dominant in these devices, whose areas are all less than 1 sq mm. The bulk minority carrier (hole) lifetime extracted from the 1/tau(p) vs P/A plot is approximately 0.7 micro-s, well above the 60 ns to 300 ns average iit'eptimes obtained when perimeter recombination effects are ignored in the analysis. Given the fact that there has been little previous investigation of bipolar diode and transistor performance as a function of perimeter-to-area ratio, this work raises the possibility that perimeter recombination may be partly responsible for poor effective minority carrier lifetimes and limited performance obtained in many previous SiC bipolar junction devices.
Document ID
20000033692
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Neudeck, Philip G.
(NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1998
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Electronic Engineers
Volume: 27
Issue: 4
Subject Category
Solid-State Physics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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