Investigation on Degradation of SiC MOSFET Under Accelerated Stress in a PFC Converter

The reliability concern of SiC MOSFETs has been extensively investigated with various accelerated stress tests. However, these conventional tests are predominantly performed in a simplified and controlled testing environment, which might or might not realistically simulate the actual device operation profiles in power converters. In this article, we report the long-term degradation phenomenon of several types of SiC MOSFETs in an actual 2-kW power factor correction (PFC) converter and provide an analysis of the degradation mechanisms. Compared to conventional dc power cycling tests, a large decrease in threshold voltage was observed due to gate oxide degradation of SiC MOSFET in a PFC converter. Online monitoring results show that the ON-state voltage drop of SiC MOSFET continuously rises with the increase of stress times. The increase in ON-state voltage is caused by the change of package resistance and channel resistance. Gate oxide degradation resulting in a large increase in drain–source leakage current and gate leakage current. Meanwhile, the variation of miller plateau voltage and threshold voltage results in a significant change of turn-on losses in SiC MOSFET. TCAD simulation, and $C$ – $V$ measurement indicate that the main degradation mechanism is hot holes accumulation within the gate oxide above the JFET region and channel region due to high electric field stress.