Single-Event Effects in 1.2 kV Normally-On SiC JFETs Under Heavy-Ion Strike

The irradiation characteristics of 1.2 kV normally-on SiC JFETs under heavy-ion strike were investigated in this article. Similar to those found in SiC MOSFETs, two phenomena were observed in SiC JFETs: one exhibited single-event leakage current (SELC) at low drain bias, and the other exhibited single-event burnout (SEB) at high drain bias. Besides, it was seen that SiC JFETs had a significantly larger threshold for SELC. Subsequently, failure analysis was conducted based on microscopic characterization techniques and TCAD simulations. It was found that the occurrence of SELC in SiC JFETs was due to the thermally-induced micro-crack transversing the gate-to-drain p–n junction, while SEB happened when the localized lattice temperature reached the burnout limit, leading to through-thickness cracking of the epitaxial layer. While single-event effects (SEEs) remain unavoidable, results demonstrate that due to the absence of gate oxide structure, SiC JFETs appear to have an advantage over SiC MOSFETs in terms of irradiation resistance, indicating the potential for widespread usage in avionic applications.