Resistive and CTAT Temperature Sensors in a Silicon Carbide CMOS Technology

Accurately sensing the temperature in silicon carbide (power) devices is of great importance to their reliable operation. Here, temperature sensors by resistive and CMOS structures are fabricated and characterized in an open silicon carbide CMOS technology. Over a range of 25-200°C, doped design layers have negative temperature coefficients of resistance, with a maximum change of 79%. Secondly, CMOS devices are used to implement a CTAT, which achieves a maximum sensitivity of 7.5mV/K in a temperature range of 25-165°C. The integration of readout electronics and sensors that are capable of operation in higher temperature than silicon, opens application in harsher environments.

I. Introduction

The field of wide bandgap semiconductors has gained increased research interest over the past decades. Applications in power electronics [1],[2] are promising and expected to have substantial future markets [3], with silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) as the main materials of choice. Due to the large demand of SiC and GaN based power devices, material costs are steadily decreasing. This development is expected to enable other cost-effective future application of these materials, like integrated systems in harsh environment sensing [4]-[9].