Optically controlled silicon carbide and related wide-bandgap transistors and thyristors
AssigneePower Integrations, Inc.
InventorMichael S. Mazzola
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optically active material is used to create power devices and circuits having significant performance advantages over conventional methods for affecting optical control of power electronics devices and circuits. A silicon-carbide optically active material is formed by compensating shallow donors with the boron related D-center. The resulting material can be n-type or p-type but it is distinguished from other materials by the ability to induce persistent photoconductivity in it when illuminated by electromagnetic radiation with a photon energy in excess of the threshold energy required to photoexcite electrons from the D-center to allowed states close to the conduction band edge, which varies from polytype to polytype.
Claims22
A device comprising:
- an optically active switch that comprises
- a substrate, and
- an optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer above the substrate, the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer having boron-related D-center defects formed therein, wherein the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer is optically active in that the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer switches into conduction in response to sub-bandgap wavelength illumination, the switching of the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer into conduction in response to the sub-bandgap wavelength illumination closing the optically active switch.
A device comprising an optically active switch that comprises
- a substrate, and
- an optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer above the substrate, the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer having boron-related D-center defects formed therein, wherein the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer is optically active in that the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer switches into conduction in response to sub-bandgap wavelength illumination, the switching of the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer into conduction in response to the sub-bandgap wavelength illumination closing the optically active switch, wherein the optically active switch comprises:
- a vertical trench bipolar junction transistor comprising:
- a collector contact;
- a collector formed of semiconductor material and electrically connected to the collector contact, wherein the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer is above the collector;
- an emitter formed of semiconductor material and above the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer;
- an emitter contact electrically connected to the emitter,
- wherein the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer acts as a base and allows current to flow between the collector and the emitter of the vertical trench bipolar junction transistor in response to the sub-bandgap wavelength illumination, and
- a trench extending through the emitter, the trench disposed to permit illumination originating from above the emitter contact to reach the optically active, semi-insulating silicon carbide layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.