Static Characterization On-State of an Industrial Si Power MOSFET at Cryogenic Temperature

To reduce fuel consumption and CO
₂
emissions, an effort has been made in aircraft industry to investigate a superconducting application requiring an on-board cryogenic system. In this investigation, the question of cryogenic power electronics arose in an effort to reduce losses. Switches are the core of power electronics converters, which means that reducing their losses is a key point for the whole converter. But cryogenic temperatures may alter their behavior due to material contractions and changes in charge carrier behavior. It is therefore important to determine the optimum temperature for the switches, or at least the range within which there is a compromise between reducing losses and ensuring that the switches behave correctly. The Si-MOSFET was initially chosen to better understand the behavior of a single material at cryogenic temperature. The main losses of the MOSFET come from the Drain–Source resistance
R_DSON
. In addition, to ensure the switch operates correctly, the evolution of the voltage threshold
V_TH
as a function of temperature must be determined. This paper presents new results on the study of
R_DSON
Drain-Source resistance at cryogenic temperatures. Results and discussions are also conducted on the
V_TH
voltage threshold and
I_D
(
V_DS
) curves of an industrial Si power MOSFET from 300 K down to 10 K.