Engineering Commons^™

Etching Process Development For Sic Cmos, Weston Reed Renfrow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is an exciting material that is growing in popularity for having qualities that make it a helpful semiconductor in extreme environments where silicon devices fail. The development of a SiC CMOS is in its infancy. There are many improvements that need to be made to develop this technology further. Photolithography is the most significant bottleneck in the etching process; it was studied and improved upon. Etching SiC can be a challenge with its reinforced crystal structure. Chlorine-based inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching of intrinsic SiC and doped SiC, SiO2, and Silicon has been studied. A baseline chlorine …

Junction Temperature Estimation Of Silicon Carbide Power Module Using Internal Gate Resistance As Temperature Sensitive Electrical Parameter, Michael Sykes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The junction temperature of a power module is measured non-intrusively and uninterrupted in its application by analyzing the dependency of gate resistance to temperature. The circuit configuration proposed consists of altering the gate loop path and adding a basic peak detection circuit with an added low-pass filter to accurately measure the small differences seen during a temperature change on the internal gate resistance. The testing on this Silicon Carbide power module shows that the internal gate resistance has a positive temperature coefficient. This causes the current and the voltage drop on the gate loop sensing resistance to reduce as the …

An Accurate And Efficient Electro-Thermal Compact Model Of Sic Power Mosfet Including Third Quadrant Behavior, Arman Ur Rashid

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to narrower bandgap and lower critical electric field, silicon (Si) power devices have reached their limit in terms of the maximum blocking voltage capability. Exploiting this limitation, wide bandgap devices, namely silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) devices, are increasingly encroaching on the lucrative power electronics market. Unlike GaN, SiC devices can exploit most of the established fabrication techniques of Si power devices. Having substrate of the same material, vertical device structures with higher breakdown capabilities are feasible in SiC, unlike their GaN counterpart. Also, the excellent thermal conductivity of SiC, compared to GaN and Si, let SiC …

Design Of A 350 Kw Silicon Carbide Based 3-Phase Inverter With Ultra-Low Parasitic Inductance, Matthew Feurtado

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to present a design for a low parasitic inductance, high power density 3-phase inverter using silicon-carbide power modules for traction application in the electric vehicles with a power rating of 350 kW. With the market share of electric vehicles continuing to grow, there is a great opportunity for wide bandgap semiconductors such as silicon carbide (SiC) to improve the efficiency and size of the motor drives in these applications. In order to accomplish this goal, careful design and selection of each component in the system for optimum performance from an electrical, mechanical, and thermal …

An Rs-485 Transceiver In A Silicon Carbide Cmos Process, Maria Raquel Benavides Herrera

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the design, simulation and test results of a silicon carbide (SiC) RS-485 transceiver for high temperature applications. This circuit is a building block in the design and fabrication of a digital data processing and control system. Automation processes for extreme environments, remote connection to high temperature locations, deep earth drilling, and high temperature data acquisition are some of the potential applications for such a system. The transceiver was designed and developed in a 1.2 µm SiC-CMOS process by Raytheon Systems, Ltd. (UK). It has been tested with a supply voltage of 12 V and 15 V, temperatures …

Gating Methods For High-Voltage Silicon Carbide Power Mosfets, Audrey Dearien

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to assess the challenges associated with driving Silicon Carbide (SiC) power devices, and to compare the potential gate drive methods for these devices which address those challenges. SiC power devices present many benefits that make them suitable for next generation automotive, power utility grid, and energy management applications. High efficiency, increased power density, and reliability at high-temperatures are some of the main benefits of SiC technology. However, the many challenges associated with these devices have prevented their adoption into industry applications. The argument is made in this thesis that the gate driver is a …

A Silicon Carbide Power Management Solution For High Temperature Applications, Robert Murphree

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increasing demand for discrete power devices capable of operating in high temperature and high voltage applications has spurred on the research of semiconductor materials with the potential of breaking through the limitations of traditional silicon. Gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC), both of which are wide bandgap materials, have garnered the attention of researchers and gradually gained market share. Although these wide bandgap power devices enable more ambitious commercial applications compared to their silicon-based counterparts, reaching their potential is contingent upon developing integrated circuits (ICs) capable of operating in similar environments.

The foundation of any electrical system is …

The Development Of Novel Interconnection Technologies For 3d Packaging Of Wire Bondless Silicon Carbide Power Modules, Sayan Seal

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation advances the cause for the 3D packaging and integration of silicon carbide power modules. 3D wire bondless approaches adopted for enhancing the performance of silicon power modules were surveyed, and their merits were assessed to serve as a vision for the future of SiC power packaging. Current efforts pursuing 3D wire bondless SiC power modules were investigated, and the concept for a novel SiC power module was discussed. This highly-integrated SiC power module was assessed for feasibility, with a focus on achieving ultralow parasitic inductances in the critical switching loops. This will enable higher switching frequencies, leading to …

Design And Test Of A Gate Driver With Variable Drive And Self-Test Capability Implemented In A Silicon Carbide Cmos Process, Matthew Barlow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Discrete silicon carbide (SiC) power devices have long demonstrated abilities that outpace those of standard silicon (Si) parts. The improved physical characteristics allow for faster switching, lower on-resistance, and temperature performance. The capabilities unleashed by these devices allow for higher efficiency switch-mode converters as well as the advance of power electronics into new high-temperature regimes previously unimaginable with silicon devices. While SiC power devices have reached a relative level of maturity, recent work has pushed the temperature boundaries of control electronics further with silicon carbide integrated circuits.

The primary requirement to ensure rapid switching of power MOSFETs was a gate …

8 Bit Split Array Based Charge Scaling Digital To Analog Converter With Rail To Rail Buffered Output, Sai Kiran Akula

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the design, simulation and layout of a silicon carbide (SiC) 8 bit split array charge scaling digital to analog convertor (DAC). The converter consists of the charge scaling capacitor chain with two operational trans-conductance amplifiers (op amp) in voltage follower configuration. The op amps used in the design have the input common mode ranges of 0 to 11.2 V and 4.7V to 14.5V respectively. Additional logic circuit topologies are designed, which help to switch the op amps when needed to provide a rail to rail unity gain at the output. As the design is based on the …

A Phase-Locked Loop In High-Temperature Silicon Carbide And General Design Methods For Silicon Carbide Integrated Circuits, Paul Shepherd

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon carbide (SiC) has long been considered for integrated circuits (ICs). It offers several advantages, including wider temperature range, larger critical electric field, and greater radiation immunity with respect to Silicon (Si). At the same time, it suffers from challenges in fabrication consistency and lower transconductance which the designer must overcome. One of the recent SiC IC processes developed is the Raytheon High-Temperature Silicon Carbide (HTSiC) complementary MOSFET process. This process is one of the first to offer P channel MOSFETs and, as a result, a greater variety of circuits can be built in it.

The behavior of SiC MOSFETs …