Design of a 4H-SiC RESURF n-LDMOS Transistor for High Voltage Integrated Circuits

In this work, a lateral 4H-SiC n-LDMOS transistor, based on the principle of a reduced surface field due to charge compensation, is investigated by numerical simulations, in order to find adequate fabrication parameters for a lightly doped p-type epitaxial layer in combination with a higher doped channel region. The purpose of this work is the integration into an existing technology for a 10 V 4H-SiC-CMOS process. The simulations predict in a blocking voltage of 1.3 kV in combination with an On-resistance of 17 mΩcm2 for a device with a RESURF structure (REduced SURface Field) with a total implanted Al concentration of 6∙1016 cm-3 and a depth of 1 μm, a field plate of 5 μm and a drift region of 20 μm. The threshold voltage varies from 5 V to 10 V, depending on the thickness of the gate oxide (50 nm to 100 nm)

Conduction loss reduction for bipolar injection field-effect-transistors (BIFET)

In this study, the potential of forward conduction loss reduction of Bipolar-Injection Field-Effect-Transistors (SiC-p-BIFET) with an intended blocking voltage of 10kV by adjusting the doping concentration in the channel-region is analyzed. For the optimization of the SiC-p-BIFET, numerical simulations were carried out. Regarding a desired turn-off voltage of approximately 25V, the optimum doping concentration in the channel-region was found to be 1.4x1017cm-3. Based on these results, SiC-p-BIFETs were fabricated and electrically characterized in the temperature range from 25°C up to 175°C. In this study, the differential on-resistance was found to be 110mΩcm2 for a temperature of 25°C and 55mΩcm2 for a temperature of 175°C. In comparison to our former results, a reduction of the differential on-resistance of about 310mΩcm2 at room temperature is demonstrated

Impact of Al-ion implantation on the formation of deep defects in n-type 4H-SiC

In this work, deep defects in an aluminum implanted 4H-SiC n-type epitaxy are discussed in dependence on following influencing factors: concentration of implanted aluminum, implantation energy, implantation at 500°C and at room temperature, as well as ascending or descending order of implantation energies during ion implantation using Gaussian profiles. The compensation ratio, which reaches values up to 90% of the implanted aluminum concentration, is determined by Hall Effect measurements. Compensating defect centers (Z1/2-, ONx-defects) are detected by Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy after high energy ion implantation using an energy filter, followed by an annealing and an oxidation process

Serious Asthma Events with Fluticasone plus Salmeterol versus Fluticasone Alone

BACKGROUND: The safe and appropriate use of long-acting beta-agonists (LABAs) for the treatment of asthma has been widely debated. In two large clinical trials, investigators found a potential risk of serious asthma-related events associated with LABAs. This study was designed to evaluate the risk of administering the LABA salmeterol in combination with an inhaled glucocorticoid, fluticasone propionate. METHODS: In this multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial, adolescent and adult patients (age, ≥12 years) with persistent asthma were assigned to receive either fluticasone with salmeterol or fluticasone alone for 26 weeks. All the patients had a history of a severe asthma exacerbation in the year before randomization but not during the previous month. Patients were excluded from the trial if they had a history of life-threatening or unstable asthma. The primary safety end point was the first serious asthma-related event (death, endotracheal intubation, or hospitalization). Noninferiority of fluticasone-salmeterol to fluticasone alone was defined as an upper boundary of the 95% confidence interval for the risk of the primary safety end point of less than 2.0. The efficacy end point was the first severe asthma exacerbation. RESULTS: Of 11,679 patients who were enrolled, 67 had 74 serious asthma-related events, with 36 events in 34 patients in the fluticasone-salmeterol group and 38 events in 33 patients in the fluticasone-only group. The hazard ratio for a serious asthma-related event in the fluticasone-salmeterol group was 1.03 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64 to 1.66), and noninferiority was achieved (P=0.003). There were no asthma-related deaths; 2 patients in the fluticasone-only group underwent asthma-related intubation. The risk of a severe asthma exacerbation was 21% lower in the fluticasone-salmeterol group than in the fluticasone-only group (hazard ratio, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.89), with at least one severe asthma exacerbation occurring in 480 of 5834 patients (8%) in the fluticasone-salmeterol group, as compared with 597 of 5845 patients (10%) in the fluticasone-only group (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients who received salmeterol in a fixed-dose combination with fluticasone did not have a significantly higher risk of serious asthma-related events than did those who received fluticasone alone. Patients receiving fluticasone-salmeterol had fewer severe asthma exacerbations than did those in the fluticasone-only group