Review on Modeling and Mitigation of Bipolar Degradation in 4H-SiC

•Bipolar degradation is a long-standing problem in 4H-SiC•Structure of stacking faults and bounding dislocations well understood•Quantum well action provides a model to design measures against bipolar degradation•Measures during wafer processing are identified to avoid formation of stacking faults•Device design emergies to avoid bipolar operation of devices, eliminating bipolar degradation [Display omitted] It is now 25 years since the first observation of recombination-enhanced dislocation glide (REDG) in SiC p-i-n diodes. Since then, great progress has been made in understanding the mechanism behind up to a point where models emerged that can predict the current density threshold for the onset of REDG. Based on this, new device designs currently emerge which have the potential to overcome the issue.