Fundamentals, Commercialization, and Future Challenges of SiC Power Devices

High-voltage SiC power MOSFETs and Schottky barrier diodes have been rapidly penetrating the power electronics market owing to their low power loss and fast-switching capability. In this paper, fundamental aspects and progress in SiC devices are reviewed. Although SiC power MOSFETs significantly outperform the Si counterparts, the performance is still far from the ideal expected from the material properties. Improvement of device reliability such as threshold voltage instability and short-circuit ruggedness is another critical issue for wider adoption of SiC MOSFETs.