1200-V SiC MOSFET Short-Circuit Ruggedness Evaluation and Methods to Improve Withstand Time

Abstract

This article presents the short-circuit (SC) capability evaluation of TO-247-3 packaged silicon carbide (SiC) metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) based on tests under different drain biases and gate biases. Compared with the 900-V Si super-junction MOSFET and the 1200-V Si trench-gate field-stop insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), SiC devices show higher saturation current per die area, which requires more rigorous chip design consideration to reach an acceptable SC withstand time (SCWT). The test results also reveal that the SC withstand capability of SiC MOSFETs can still be enhanced. Thus, in both chip design and detection circuits, several novel approaches investigated in recent years, which could potentially improve SC ruggedness of SiC device-based systems, are discussed at the end of this article.