High-Performance Temperature Sensors Based on Dual 4H-SiC JBS and SBD Devices

Abstract

Schottky diode-based temperature sensors are the most common commercially available temperature sensors, and they are attracting increasing interest owing to their higher Schottky barrier height compared to their silicon counterparts. Therefore, this paper presents a comparison of the thermal sensitivity variation trend in temperature sensors, based on dual 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky (JBS) diodes and Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). The forward bias current–voltage characteristics were acquired by sweeping the DC bias voltage from 0 to 3 V. The dual JBS sensor exhibited a higher peak sensitivity (4.32 mV/K) than the sensitivity exhibited by the SBD sensor (2.85 mV/K), at temperatures ranging from 298 to 573 K. The JBS sensor exhibited a higher ideality factor and barrier height owing to the p–n junction in JBS devices. The developed sensor showed good repeatability, maintaining a stable output over several cycles of measurements on different days. It is worth noting that the ideality factor and barrier height influenced the forward biased voltage, leading to a higher sensitivity for the JBS device compared to the SBD device. This allows the JBS device to be suitably integrated with SiC power management and control circuitry to create a sensing module capable of working at high temperatures.