Junction temperature measurement in optically-activated power MOSFET

The temperature-dependent optical properties of silicon carbide (SiC), such as refractive index and reflectivity, have been used for a direct monitoring of the junction temperature of a power MOSFET. In particular, the optical response of a 4H-SiC MOSFET-integrated Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity to temperature changes has been investigated through parametric optical simulations at the wavelength of λ = 450 nm. The reflected optical power exhibited oscillatory patterns caused by the multiple beam interference for which the MOSFET epilayer, between the gate-oxide and the doped 4H-SiC substrate, acts as a FP etalon. These results were used to calculate the refractive index change and, therefore, the optical phase shift of Δφ = π/2 corresponding to a temperature variation that can be considered as a warning for the device 'health'. In practical applications, the periodic monitoring of the optic spectrum at the interferometric structure output gives an essential information about the device operating temperature condition that, for high power operations, may lead to device damages or system failure. Moreover, the optical monitoring of the junction temperature has been combined with the optical activation of the same device in order to design an all-optically controlled power MOSFET. Electro-optical simulation results show that the application of an UV optical beam (λ = 285 nm) leads to the creation of the electrical channel between drain (D) and source (S). The corresponding current density-voltage (J D-V DS) characteristics have been calculated under different values of the optical power density up to 10 kW cm-2.