Foreword

This work reports on the performances of ohmic contacts fabricated on highly p-type doped 4H-SiC epitaxial layer selectively grown by vapor-liquid-solid transport. Due to the very high doping level obtained, the contacts have an ohmic behavior even without any annealing process. Upon variation of annealing temperatures, it was shown that both 500 and 800 °C annealing temperature lead to a minimum value of the Specific Contact Resistance (SCR) down to 1.3×10−6 Ω⋅cm2. However, a large variation of the minimum SCR values has been observed (up to 4×10−4 Ω⋅cm2). Possible sources of this fluctuation have been also discussed in this paper

Pulse characterization of optically triggered SiC thyristors

International audienceThis paper deals with the pulse capabilities of 4H-SiC optically triggered thyristors. The device structure and the fabrication process are presented. The results of pulse characterizations are shown. Two types of current pulses were used, a short (pulse width of 10 μs) and a long (pulse width of 650 μs). Peak current densities of 17 kA.cm -2 and 4 kA.cm -2 were attained with short and long pulses respectively. The failures and degradation caused by these experiments are also shown in this paper

A Step Toward High Temperature Intelligent Power Modules Using 1.5kV SiC-BJT

International audienceLooking back to the development of inverters using SiC switches, it appears that SiC devices do not behave like their silicon counterparts. Their ability to operate at high temperature makes them attractive. Developing drivers suitable for 200˚C operation is not straightforward. In a perspective of high integration and large power density, it is wise to consider a monolithic integration of the driver parts for the sake of reliability. Silicon is not suitable for high ambient temperature; silicon-on-insulator offers better performances and presents industrial perspectives. The paper focuses on a SiC BJT driver: it processes logical orders from outside, drives adequately the BJT to turn it either on or off, monitors the turn-off and turn-on state of the device, and acts accordingly to prevent failure. SiC BJT imposes specific performances different from the well known ones of SiC JFET or MOSFET. The paper addresses a preliminary analysis of a SOI driver, anticipating the behavior of SiC-BJT and the change in behavior at high temperature. A discret driver as been design and fabricated. Elementary functionnal blocks have been validated, and a BJT conveter successfully operated at high temperature with high efficiency (η = 88%)

VTH subthreshold hysteresis technology and temperature dependence in commercial 4H-SiC MOSFETs

VTH subthreshold hysteresis measured in commercially available 4H-SiC MOSFET is more pronounced in trench than in planar ones. All planar devices from different manufacturers exhibit an inverse temperature dependence, with the hysteresis amplitude reducing as the temperature increases, whereas all trench devices from different manufacturers exhibit the opposite behaviour. A physical interpretation is proposed, based on experimental evidence, which demonstrates that temperature dependence of the VTH subthreshold hysteresis is related to the technology. The findings are relevant to the ongoing discussion on SiC bespoke validation standards development and contribute important new insight

Les réseaux HVDC multi-terminaux : des défis multiples en génie électrique

National audienceLes systèmes électriques à très haute tension ont besoin d'être renforcés pour faciliter les échanges, maintenir la sécurité de fonctionnement, et raccorder des sources offshore. Certaines limites des réseaux alternatifs apparaissent alors. Les réseaux à courant continu haute tension (HVDC) multiterminaux peuvent être une alternative sous réserve de trouver des solutions aux barrières scientifiques et technologiquesexistantes. Les défis rencontrés sont au coeur du génie électrique, tant au niveau du matériau, du composant que du système. Cetarticle présente les principaux challenges à relever dans le domaine du génie électrique pour rendre possible l'exploitationfiable et sûre des réseaux HVDC.</p

Very low R/sub ON/ measured on 4H-SiC accu-MOSFET high power device

International audienceThis paper describes the I-V characteristics obtained from a 4H-SiC current limiting device. Some specific aspects of the specific on-resistance are discussed in simulation with the DESSIS ISE software. The device behaviors place it in the field of the best Implanted Channel MOSFET (IC-MOSFET) obtained in the literature. The best on-resistance measured is 13 mWcm 2 and the saturation current density reaches 900 Acm-2

Influence of the Masking Material and Geometry on the 4H-SiC RIE Etched Surface State

International audienceThe roughness of etched SiC surfaces must be minimized to obtain surfaces with a smooth aspect, avoiding micromasking artifacts originating from re-deposited particles during the etching process. Four varieties of masks, Al, Ni, Si and C, were deposited on the SiC surface by photolithographic process. The C structures were formed by annealing conversion of patterned thick photoresist. On these surfaces, dry etching was performed with an SF6/O2 plasma produced in a Reactive-Ion-Etching (RIE) reactor. Although a better aspect of the surface is obtained with Ni in comparison with Al mask, micromasking could also occur even with Ni if the mask design was not enough spaced out. With C and Si masks, which produce fluorides species with negative boiling temperature, smooth etched surface was obtained without micromasking, even for tight masks covering up to 90% of the SiC surface

A retrosynthetic biology approach to metabolic pathway design for therapeutic production

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Synthetic biology is used to develop cell factories for production of chemicals by constructively importing heterologous pathways into industrial microorganisms. In this work we present a retrosynthetic approach to the production of therapeutics with the goal of developing an <it>in situ </it>drug delivery device in host cells. Retrosynthesis, a concept originally proposed for synthetic chemistry, iteratively applies reversed chemical transformations (reversed enzyme-catalyzed reactions in the metabolic space) starting from a target product to reach precursors that are endogenous to the chassis. So far, a wider adoption of retrosynthesis into the manufacturing pipeline has been hindered by the complexity of enumerating all feasible biosynthetic pathways for a given compound.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In our method, we efficiently address the complexity problem by coding substrates, products and reactions into molecular signatures. Metabolic maps are represented using hypergraphs and the complexity is controlled by varying the specificity of the molecular signature. Furthermore, our method enables candidate pathways to be ranked to determine which ones are best to engineer. The proposed ranking function can integrate data from different sources such as host compatibility for inserted genes, the estimation of steady-state fluxes from the genome-wide reconstruction of the organism's metabolism, or the estimation of metabolite toxicity from experimental assays. We use several machine-learning tools in order to estimate enzyme activity and reaction efficiency at each step of the identified pathways. Examples of production in bacteria and yeast for two antibiotics and for one antitumor agent, as well as for several essential metabolites are outlined.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We present here a unified framework that integrates diverse techniques involved in the design of heterologous biosynthetic pathways through a retrosynthetic approach in the reaction signature space. Our engineering methodology enables the flexible design of industrial microorganisms for the efficient on-demand production of chemical compounds with therapeutic applications.</p

OBIC measurements on 1.3 kV 6H-SiC bipolar diodes protected by Junction Lateral Extension

International audienceDue to its good electrical properties, mainly a high critical electric field and a large bandgap, silicon carbide has demonstrated potentialities for high power devices. We have designed and realised bipolar diodes to sustain a reverse voltage of about 1.3 kV. We present below the experimental breakdown voltage we achieved, and results of OBIC measurements

Investigations on Ni-Ti-Al ohmic contacts obtained on p-type 4H-SiC

International audienceTransfer Length Method (TLM) based-structures were fabricated on 0.8 µm-thick epitaxial p-type Silicon Carbide (4H-SiC) layers. TLM mesas were defined by a 2 µm height using an SF 6 /O 2 reactive ion etching. TLM metal patterns were obtained by a lift-off procedure and electron beam deposition of Ni, Ti, Al and Pt. The patterned samples were annealed in Argon ambient at temperature ranging from 700°C up to 1000°C in a RTA furnace with a rapid heating ramp (up to 50°C/s) to complete the ohmic contact with the p-type SiC layer. Specific contact resistances were extracted from current/voltage measurements. To identify and follow the profile evolution of constituting element in the contacts and at the SiC/contact interface, the ohmic contacts were characterized using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry and Energy-Dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy before and after annealing. Ohmic contacts are obtained only for the Ni/Ti/Al and Ni/Ti/Al/Ni stacking layers and not for the Ti/Al/Ti/Ni and Ti/Al/Ti/Pt/Ni compositions. The specific contact resistance of Ni/Ti/Al/Ni stacking layers was observed to decrease from 2.7×10-4  .cm 2 at 700°C and 6.3×10-5 .cm 2 at 750°C to a minimal value of 1.5×10-5  .cm 2 at 800°C. Ohmic contacts are obtained with a reproducibility of 80 %