Abstract: A semiconductor device including a drift zone of a first conductivity type serving as a substrate layer having a front side and a back side. A first contact electrode is arranged at the front side of the drift zone. A control region is arranged at the front side and controls an injection of carriers of at least the first conductivity type into the drift zone. A second contact electrode is arranged at the backside of the drift zone. The drift zone is arranged to carry a carrier flow between the first and the second contact electrode. The drift zone includes a silicon carbide wafer with a net carrier concentration less than 1015 cm?3 and a carrier lifetime of at least 50 ns.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a silicon carbide single crystal. A silicon carbide single crystal is grown. The crystal has a boron concentration less than 5×1014 cm?3, and a concentration of transition metals impurities less than 5×1014 cm?3. Intrinsic defects in the crystal are minimised. The intrinsic defects include silicon vacancies or carbon vacancies. The crystal is annealed for a desired time at a temperature above 700° C. in an atmosphere containing any of the gases hydrogen or a mixture of hydrogen and an inert gas, such that the density of intrinsic defects and any associated defects is decreased to a concentration low enough to confer to the crystal a desired carrier life time of at least 50 ns at room temperature.

Abstract: An integrated vertical SiC—PN power diode has a highly doped SiC semiconductor body of a first conductivity type, a low-doped drift zone of the first conductivity type, arranged above the semiconductor body on the emitter side, an emitter zone of a second conductivity type, applied to the drift zone, and at least one thin intermediate layer of the first conductivity type. The intermediate layer is arranged inside the drift zone, has a higher doping concentration than the drift zone, and divides the drift zone into at least one first anode-side drift zone layer and at least one second cathode-side drift zone layer. There is also disclosed a circuit configuration with such SiC—PN power diodes.