An Investigation of Body Diode Reliability in Commercial 1.2 kV SiC Power MOSFETs with Planar and Trench Structures

The body diode degradation in SiC power MOSFETs has been demonstrated to be caused by basal plane dislocation (BPD)-induced stacking faults (SFs) in the drift region. To enhance the reliability of the body diode, many process and structural improvements have been proposed to eliminate BPDs in the drift region, ensuring that commercial SiC wafers for 1.2 kV devices are of high quality. Thus, investigating the body diode reliability in commercial planar and trench SiC power MOSFETs made from SiC wafers with similar quality has attracted attention in the industry. In this work, current stress is applied on the body diodes of 1.2 kV commercial planar and trench SiC power MOSFETs under the off-state. The results show that the body diodes of planar and trench devices with a shallow P+ depth are highly reliable, while those of the trench devices with the deep P+ implantation exhibit significant degradation. In conclusion, the body diode degradation in trench devices is mainly influenced by P+ implantation-induced BPDs. Therefore, a trade-off design by controlling the implantation depth/dose and maximizing the device performance is crucial. Moreover, the deep JFET design is confirmed to further improve the body diode reliability in planar devices.