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High Surge Current Capability in Ultra-Wide Bandgap Gallium Oxide Power Rectifiers through Device-Package Co-Optimization

Year: 2021 | Author: Boyan Wang | Paper: S6.1
Bottom side cooling
Fig. 1. Bottom side cooling Ga2O3 Schottky diodes packaging & surge test result.
  Ultra-wide-bandgap gallium oxide (Ga 2O3) devices have recently emerged as the promising candidates for power electronics. However, the low thermal conductivity (kT) of Ga 2O3 causes serious concerns on the electrothermal ruggedness of Ga 2O3 devices. This work presents the first experimental demonstrations of the large-area Ga 2O3 Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) packaged in the bottom- side-cooling and double-side-cooling configurations, and for the first time, characterizes the surge current capabilities of these packaged Ga 2O3 SBDs. Contrary to popular belief, Ga 2O3 SBDs with proper packaging show high surge current capabilities. The double-side-cooled Ga 2O3 SBDs with a 3×3 mm2 Schottky contact area can sustain a peak surge current over 60 A, as shown in Fig. 2, with the ratio between the peak surge current and the rated current comparable or even superior to that of commercial SiC SBDs.
Double side cooling
Fig. 2. Double side cooling Ga2O3 Schottky diodes packaging & surge test result.
The key enabling mechanisms for this high surge current are the small temperature dependence of on- resistance, which strongly reduces the thermal runaway, and the double-side-cooled packaging, which allows the heat extraction directly from the Schottky junction without the need for going through the low-kT bulk Ga 2O3 chip. These results have removed some crucial concerns on the electrothermal ruggedness of Ga 2O3 power devices and manifest the significance of their die-level thermal management.
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