In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched, as an international collaboration hosted by CERN. This study...

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by...

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by...

Depending on the application, electronic systems and devices can be subjected to different radiation environments. According to the type of radiation encountered during operation, electronic components are simultaneously vulnerable to cumulative and single event effects. In addition, inelastic interactions of highly energetic particles with high-Z materials generate highly ionizing products. This can lead to catastrophic failures and therefore can have a significant impact on the reliability of electronic devices. For this reason, it is necessary to test electronic devices/systems in representative environments. For this purpose, a mixed field radiation test facility called CHARM has been established at CERN. Its radiation environment is not only representative of particle accelerators, but also of atmospheric, ground level and space applications.

Heavy-ion microbeams are employed for probing the radiation-sensitive regions in commercial silicon carbide (SiC) vertical double-diffused power (VD)-MOSFETs with micrometer accuracy. By scanning the beam spot over the die, a spatial periodicity was observed in the leakage current degradation, reflecting the striped structure of the power MOSFET investigated. Two different mechanisms were observed for degradation. At low drain bias (gate and source grounded), only the gate-oxide (at the JFET or neck region) is contributing in the ion-induced leakage current. For exposures at drain–source bias voltages higher than a specific threshold, additional higher drain leakage current is observed in the p-n junction region. This provides useful insights into the understanding of basic phenomena of single-event effects in SiC power devices.