Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a semiconductor with superior intrinsic properties than Silicon for high temperature and high power electronics applications. SiC devices are expected to be extensively used in the electrification transition and novel energy management applications. To fully exploit the SiC superior properties, the future semiconductor devices will be used under extreme biasing and temperature conditions. These devices must operate safely at higher current densities, higher dV/dt and higher junction temperatures than Si devices does.
The objective of this thesis is to study the SiC devices fabricated at LETI under these extreme operating conditions, and to optimize their design to fully use the theoretical potential of SiC. The thesis work will include several phases that will be strongly coupled:
- Advanced electro-thermal characterisation (50%), by proposing new approaches to testing components in a box or on a suitable support, using artificial intelligence (AI) tools for data extraction and processing. The work will include adapting standard measurement methodologies to the specific switching characteristics of SiC.
- An assessment (15%) of the design and technological parameters responsible for the operating limits of the components.
- A physico-chemical characterisation component (15%) to analyse failures under these extreme conditions.
- The inclusion of predictive models (20%) for the sensitivity of architectures to extreme conditions and faults, based on modelling.