Performance Improvement of >10kV SiC IGBTs with Retrograde p-Well

A p-well consisting of a retrograde doping profile is investigated for performance improvement of >10kV SiC IGBTs. The retrograde p-well, which can be realized using low-energy shallow implants, effectively addresses the punch-through, a common issue in high-voltage vertical architectures consisting of a conventional p-well with typical doping density of 1e17cm-3 and depth 1μm. The innovative approach offers an extended control over the threshold voltage. Without any punch-through, a threshold voltage in the range 6V-7V is achieved with gate-oxide thickness of 100nm. Gate oxide thickness is typically restricted to 50nm if a conventional p-well with doping density of 1e17cm-3 is utilized. We therefore propose a highly promising solution, the retrograde p-well, for the development of >10kV SiC IGBTs.