Demonstration of Lateral IGBTs in 4H-SiC

Lateral insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) in 4H-SiC are demonstrated for the first time. The devices were fabricated based on three different designs to investigate the effects of buffer doping and carrier lifetime on device performance. Experimental results show that, with a lightly doped buffer, a short drift region length, and an improved carrier lifetime, the common base current gain of the parasitic bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is improved, leading to a higher current capability of the IGBT. The differential on-resistance of the lateral IGBT with L-d = 20 mu m is smaller than that of a lateral MOSFET counterpart, implying partial conductivity modulation in the drift region.