High temperature performance of NMOS integrated inverters and ring oscillators in 6H-SiC

Electrical characterization up to 573 K is performed on integrated inverters with different beta ratios and 17-stage ring oscillators based on SiC NMOS technology. These devices are fabricated on a p-type 6H-SiC epitaxial layer with a doping concentration of N/sub A/=1/spl middot/10/sup 16/ cm/sup -3/. The n/sup +/ source/drain regions and buried channels for depletion-mode load transistors are achieved by ion implantation of nitrogen. Direct current measurements of the inverters with a 5 V power supply yield proper output levels and acceptable noise margins both at 303 and 573 K. Dynamic measurements with square waves show the full voltage swing up to 5 kHz in this temperature range. The 17-stage ring oscillators, driven by a 5.5 V power supply, show an oscillator frequency of 625 kHz at 303 K, which corresponds to a 47 ns delay per inverter stage. This time constant increases only to 59 ns at 573 K. The temperature drift of the measured output signal is well below 30% up to this elevated temperatures. During 20 heat cycles up to 573 K in air, no measurable drift in circuit parameters occurred. In addition, only a slight dependence of the oscillator frequency on supply voltage is observed.