The Concept of Safe Operating Area for Gate Dielectrics: the SiC/SiO2 Case Study.

This paper introduces the concept of safe operating area (SOA) for the gate dielectric of SiC MOSFETs. The SOA is defined as the stress time-field-temperature space in which the transistor will remain within datasheet specifications and is a more useful parameter than the standardly reported time-to-failure (t(fail)). Using Weibull statistics, the SOA at 5ppm, 20 Years, T=175 degrees C is similar to V-gs=21.5V for onsemi SiC MOSFET products.