Channel Turn-Off Energy Model for Zero-Voltage-Switching Wide Bandgap Devices

Abstract

Accurate estimation of the switching loss for power MOSFETs is critical to predict the device junction temperature and the efficiency in power converters. In recent power electronics design, wide bandgap (WBG) devices are adopted with zero-voltage switching (ZVS) to achieve higher efficiency. For devices with ZVS, the only switching loss will be channel turn-off loss, and on the contrary to hard switching, the energy stored in C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">oss</sub> will be recycled. The models for the estimation of total turn-off energy have been discussed in the literature, whereas the model of channel turn-off energy is absent. In this article, a behavioral model of channel turn-off energy using a simple α- β equation for curve fitting is proposed, which can be applied to an entire current and voltage range. The proposed model is verified by different GaN HEMTs and SiC MOSFETs with a double-pulse test circuit in simulation and experiment.