• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.199-202
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• 2017

Silicon carbide (SiC) is being spotlighted as a next-generation power semiconductor material owing to the characteristic limitations of the existing silicon materials. SiC has a wider band gap, higher breakdown voltage, higher thermal conductivity, and higher saturation electron mobility than those of Si. When using this material to implement Schottky barrier diode (SBD) devices, SBD-state operation loss and switching loss can be greatly reduced as compared to that of traditional Si. However, actual SiC SBDs exhibit a lower dielectric breakdown voltage than the theoretical breakdown voltage that causes the electric field concentration, a phenomenon that occurs on the edge of the contact surface as in conventional power semiconductor devices. Therefore in order to obtain a high breakdown voltage, it is necessary to distribute the electric field concentration using the edge termination structure. In this paper, we designed an edge termination structure using a field plate structure through oxide etch angle control, and optimized the structure to obtain a high breakdown voltage. We designed the edge termination structure for a 650 V breakdown voltage using Sentaurus Workbench provided by IDEC. We conducted field plate experiments. under the following conditions: $15^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, and $75^{\circ}$. The experimental results indicated that the oxide etch angle was $45^{\circ}$ when the breakdown voltage characteristics of the SiC SBD were optimized and a breakdown voltage of 681 V was obtained.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.152-156
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• 1996

Fine (~0.09 $\mu$m) $\beta$-SiC Powders with 3.3wt% of large (~0.44$\mu$m) $\alpha$-SiC of $\beta$-SiC particles (seeds) added were hotpressed at 175$0^{\circ}C$ using $Y_2O_3$, $Al_2O_3$ and CaO as sintering aids and then annealed at 185$0^{\circ}C$ for 4 h to enhance grain growth. The resultant microstructure and polytypes were analyzed by high resolution electron microscopy (HREM).Growth of $\beta$-SiC with high density of microtwins and formation of ${\alpha}/{\beta}$ composite grains consisting of $\alpha$-SiC domain sandwiched between $\beta$-SiC domains were found in both specimens. When large $\alpha$-SiC (mostly 6H) seeds were added, the $\beta$-SiC transformend preferentially to the 6H polytype. In contrast, when large $\beta$-SiC (3C) seeds were added, the fine $\beta$-SiC transformed preferentially to the 4H polytype. Such results suggested that the polytype formation in SiC was influenced by crystalline form of seeds added as well as the chemistry of sintering aids. The ${\alpha}/{\beta}$ interface played and important role in the formation of elongated grains as evidenced by presence of ${\alpha}/{\beta}$ composite grains with high aspect ratio.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.208-216
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• 1991

The solidification behavior of the squeeze cast composites of aluminum alloys reinforced with boron fiber($100{\mu}m$) and silicon carbide fibers($140{\mu}m$ and $15{\mu}m$) were investigated. Al-4.5wt%Cu and Al-l0wt%Mg were chosen for the matrix phase of the composites. In the squeeze cast specimen with high thermal difference between fiber and melt, the average secondary dendrite arm spacing(DAS) in reinforced alloy is smaller than that in unreinforced alloy. It was also observed that primary ${\alpha}$ and non-equilibrium eutectic, which seems to be penetrated and solidified at the final stage of the solidification of the matrix, are irregularly distributed around fibers. It is considered that cold fibers serve as heterogeneous nucleation site. While in the remelted and resolidified specimen without temperature difference, the DAS was not changed with reinforcement and microstructure reveals non-equilibrium eutectic with relatively uniform thickness around fibers. It might be evident the nucleation starts at interfiber region. Microsegregation decreases with the decrease in cooling rate and with reinforcement in the as-squeeze cast specimen. Al-10wt% Mg alloy shows less microsegregation than Al-4.5wt%Cu alloy.

• Proceedings of the Korea Association of Crystal Growth Conference
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• 2000.06a
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• pp.1-33
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• 2000

Silicon carbide ceramics with sintering additives from the system AlN-Y$_2$O$_3$ can be gas-pressure sintered to theoretical density. While commonly a combination of sesquioxides is used such as Al$_2$O$_3$-Y$_2$O$_3$, the oxynitrid additives offer the advantage that only a nitrogen atmosphere is require instead of a powder. By starting form a mixture of ${\beta}$-SiC and ${\alpha}$-SiC, and by performing dedicated heat treatments after densification, anisotropic grain growth is obtained which leads to a platelet microstructure showing enhance fracture toughness. In the present work, recent improvement of the mechanical behaviour of these materials at ambient and high temperatures is reported. By means of a surface oxidation treatment in air it is possible to obtain four-point bending strengths in excess of 1 GPa, and the strength retention at high temperatures is significantly improved.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2013

${\beta}$-SiC powders were synthesized by a carbothermal reduction process using $SiO_2$-C precursors fabricated by a sol-gel process using phenol resin and TEOS as starting materials for carbon and Si sources, respectively. The C/Si molar ratio was selected as an important parameter for synthesizing SiC powders using a sol-gel process, and the effects of the C/Si molar ratio (1.4-3.0) on the particle size, particle size distribution, and yield of the synthesized ${\beta}$-SiC powders were investigated. It was found that (1) the particle size of the synthesized ${\beta}$-SiC powders decreased with an increase in the C/Si molar ratio in the $SiO_2$-C hybrid precursors, (2) the particle size distribution widened with an increase in the C/Si molar ratio, and (3) the yield of the ${\beta}$-SiC powder production increased with an increase in the C/Si molar ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2013

${\beta}$-SiC was deposited onto a graphite substrate by a LPCVD method and the effect of the crystallographic orientation on mechanical properties of the deposited SiC was investigated. The deposition was performed at $1300^{\circ}C$ in a cylindrical hot-wall LPCVD system by varying the deposition pressure and total flow rate. The texture and crystallographic orientation of the SiC were evaluated by XRD. The deposition rate increased linearly with the gas flow rate from 800 sccm to 1600 sccm. It also increased with the pressure but became saturated above a total pressure of 3.3 kPa. In the range of 3.3 - 10 kPa, the preferred orientation changed from the (220) and (311) planes to the (111) plane. The hardness and elastic modulus showed maximum values when the SiC had the (111) preferred orientation, though it gradually decreased upon a change to the (220) and (311) preferred orientations.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.453-458
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• 2014

SiC and its composites have been considered for use as nuclear fuel cladding materials of pressurized light water reactors. In this study, a $SiC_f$/SiC composite as a constituent layer of SiC triplex fuel cladding was fabricated using a chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) process in which tubular SiC fiber preforms were prepared using a filament winding method. To enhance the matrix density of the composite layer, winding patterns, deposition temperature, and gas input ratio were controlled. Fiber arrangement and porosity were the main parameters influencing densification behaviors. Final density of the composites decreased as the SiC fiber volume fraction increased. The CVI process was optimized to densify the tubular preforms with high fiber volume fraction at a high $H_2$/MTS ratio of 20 at $1000^{\circ}C$; in this process, surface canning of the composites was effectively retarded.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.263-272
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• 2016

Electronic structure calculations have become a powerful foundation for computational materials engineering. Four major factors have enabled this unprecedented evolution, namely (i) the development of density functional theory (DFT), (ii) the creation of highly efficient computer programs to solve the Kohn-Sham equations, (iii) the integration of these programs into productivity-oriented computational environments, and (iv) the phenomenal increase of computing power. In this context, we describe recent applications of the Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package (VASP) within the MedeA$^{(R)}$ computational environment, which provides interoperability with a comprehensive range of modeling and simulation tools. The focus is on technological applications including microelectronic materials, Li-ion batteries, high-performance ceramics, silicon carbide, and Zr alloys for nuclear power generation. A discussion of current trends including high-throughput calculations concludes this article.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.65-65
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• 2009

High temperature silicon carbide Schottky diode was fabricated with Au deposited on poly 3C-SiC thin film grown on p-type Si(100) using atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition. The charge transport mechanism of the diode was studied in the temperature range of 300 K to 550 K. The forward and reverse bias currents of the diode increase strongly with temperature and diode shows a non-ideal behavior due to the series resistance and the interface states associated with 3C-SiC. The charge transport mechanism is a temperature activated process, in which, the electrons passes over of the low barriers and in turn, diode has a large ideality factor. The charge transport mechanism of the diode was analyzed by a Gaussian distribution of the Schottky barrier heights due to the Schottky barrier inhomogeneities at the metal-semiconductor interface and the mean barrier height and zero-bias standard deviation values for the diode was found to be 1.82 eV and $s_0$=0.233 V, respectively. The interface state density of the diode was determined using conductance-frequency and it was of order of $9.18{\times}10^{10}eV^{-1}cm^{-2}$.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.459-462
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• 2019

This work presents methods for reducing overshoot voltages across the drain-source of silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs in grid-connected hybrid active neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) inverters. Compared with 3-level NPC-type inverter, the hybrid ANPC inverter can realize the high efficiency. However, SiC MOSFETs conduct its switching operation at high frequencies, which cause high overshoot voltages in such devices. These overshoot voltages should be reduced because they may damage switching devices and result in electromagnetic interference (EMI). Two major strategies are used to reduce the overshoot voltages, namely, adjusting the gate resistor and using a snubber capacitor. In this paper, advantages and disadvantages of these methods will be discussed. The effectiveness of these strategies is verified by experimental results.