High Temperature Power Electronic Systems with SiC Integrated Circuits

Profs Carl-Mikael Zetterling1, Anders Hallén1, Hans Norström2 and Mikael Östling1

1. KTH School for Information and Communication Technology
2. Uppsala University, Ångström Laboratory

Funded by:
Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research
24.2 MSEK for 5 years (2011-2016)

“to boldly go where no electronics has gone before”

Project slide presentation

• Demonstrating electronic systems at 600 °C using Silicon Carbide integrated circuits, with radiation hardness.
• A golden opportunity for electronics at much higher temperatures in entirely new system applications.
• KTH experience since 1992 in the field of SiC devices.
• Two demonstrators to be built.

Recent publications

Design and Characterization of High-Temperature ECL-Based Bipolar Integrated Circuits in 4H-SiC
Lanni, L., Ghandi, R., Malm, B.G., Zetterling, C.-M., Östling, M.
IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol 59(4), pp. 1076 - 1083, 2012.

Future high temperature applications for SiC integrated circuits
Zetterling, C.-M., Lanni, L., Ghandi, R., Malm, B. G., and Östling, M.
Phys. Status Solidi C, vol. 9, pp. 1647 - 1650, 2012.

Silicon Carbide Bipolar Integrated Circuits for High Temperature Applications
Luigia Lanni
KTH Licentiate Thesis, February 2012. (Fulltext downloadable on link)

KTH press release about this project

English: "Tough nut that can withstand 600 degrees heat"
Swedish: "Tuffingen som tål 600 graders hetta"

The silicon carbide group is part of the department Integrated Devices and Circuits at the ICT-school. We conduct experimental research in the Electrum Laboratory in Kista. Together with Uppsala University, we are starting a large project in integrated electronics in SiC for high temperatures and radiation hard environments. The main goal of this project is to demonstrate power and sensor electronic systems up to 600 °C using silicon carbide (SiC) integrated circuits, also demonstrating radiation hardness. Applications can be found in oil and gas drilling, motor drives, automotive, aviation, space exploration, and nuclear energy.

“we chose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard”

Interested? Contact
Prof. Carl-Mikael Zetterling
mailto bellman (at) kth.se
www.hotsic.se

Other SiC projects at KTH Integrated Devices and Circuits

High Voltage Device Design in SiC

Project Leader: Prof. Mikael Östling

Recent publications

Area-Optimized JTE for 4.5 kV Non Ion-Implanted 4H-SiC BJT
Salemi, A., Elahipanah, H., Buono, B., Zetterling, C.-M., Östling, M.
Poster, ECSCRM 2012.

Process Variation Tolerant 4H-SiC Power Devices Utilizing Trench Structures
Elahipanah, H., Salemi, A., Buono, B., Zetterling, C.-M., Östling, M.
Poster, ECSCRM 2012.

Simulation and Characterization of Silicon Carbide Power Bipolar Junction Transistors
Benedetto Buono
KTH Ph.D. Thesis, June 2012. (Fulltext downloadable on link)

Fabrication Technology for Efficient High Power Silicon Carbide Bipolar Junction Transistors
Reza Ghandi
KTH Ph.D. Thesis, March 2011. (Fulltext downloadable on link)

Radiation hardness of SiC Devices

Project Leader: Prof. Anders Hallén

Recent publications

Radiation-Hard Dielectrics for 4H–SiC: A Comparison Between SiO2 and Al2O3
Usman, M. and Hallen, A.
IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 32(12), pp. 1653 - 1655, 2011.

Impact of Ionizing Radiation on 4H-SiC Devices
Muhammad Usman
KTH Ph.D. Thesis, February 2012. (Fulltext downloadable on link)