Research and Development of Silicon Carbide (SiC) Junction Recovery Diodes for Picosecond Range, High Power Opening Switches

摘要

This report results from a contract tasking Ioffe Institute as follows: The purpose of the proposed project is to develop, fabricate, test, and characterize silicon carbide power semiconductor opening switches operating in the picosecond range of switch time. Special SiC diode structures will be fabricated and investigated, including Junction Recovery Diodes (JRD). The operation of such diodes is founded on the superfast recovery of the junction's blocking ability after switching the device from forward to reverse bias conditions. Our estimations show that the parameters of JRD devices can be substantially improved in case of SiC devices, compared to both Si and GaAs capabilities. We expect (i) to increase the speed of switch operation, the specific commutated power, and the operation frequency repetition; (ii) to reduce the weight and size of pulse devices; and (iii) to achieve better reliability of the devices due to the unique thermal conductivity and radiation hardness of SiC.