Electrical and Thermal Coupled Fast SiC Device Model for Circuit Simulations

Silicon carbide (SiC) based devices are currently under investigation for their improved efficiency and high thermal stability. Compared to silicon, SiC has an exceptionally high thermal conductivity and also exhibits better mechanical properties. However, limited research has been performed on SiC device-level model development that can be used for developing circuit level designs. In many cases, thermal effects and other physics are neglected during circuit design because the current methods are too computationally expensive to be practical. In high power/high frequency devices, significant heat generation is caused by interactions between the energetic electrons and the lattice. The electrical behavior of the devices is therefore altered due to the coupling of electrical and thermal characteristics. Unrealistic simulation results are generated when the temperature change is not considered simultaneously. The proposed program will develop a hybrid of physical and tabular models for silicon carbide (SiC) high-powered devices for fast and accurate circuit simulation. The primary Phase I objective will be to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed SiC-based device model and the ability of integrating the device model into fast circuit models.