A NOVEL SILICON-CARBIDE BASED HIGH-BIDIRECTIONAL SWITCHING DEVICE FOR HIGH-VOLTAGE CONTROL APPLICATIONS

A new structure of metal/i-SiC/c-Si(n(+)-P) (MISS) bidirectional switching device is successfully developed for the first time. A thick sputtered SIC layer is used, instead nf the thin insulating layer in the conventional MISS structure. Due to the wide band gap of the silicon carbide (2.3 eV for beta-SiC), this bidirectional switching device possesses a high switching voltage, e.g., 134 V for the 3000 Angstrom silicon carbide thickness. The corresponding switching currents and holding current are 0.16 mA and 1.1 mA, respectively. Experimental results show the switching voltage V-s increases with increasing intrinsic silicon carbide thickness. Thus, the V-s can be designed easily by choosing the appropriate i-SiC layer thickness. This study indicates that the silicon carbide bidirectional switching device is a promising element for high-voltage switching applications.