Characterization analysis and gate driver design for 1200 V 10 A SiC MOSFET

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) can work at high switching frequency with low switching loss compared with Si insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT). Although Si IGBT and SiC MOSFET have the same MOS-gate structure, the transient characteristics and the gate driver requirements for Si IGBT and SiC MOSFET are different. In order to fully utilize the advantages of SiC MOSFET, the gate driver of SiC MOSFET needs to be optimized to meet some special driving requirements. The paper aims to analyze the characteristics for the new generation of wide band gap semiconductor device SiC MOSFET and proposes a novel gate driver for SiC MOSFET. Meanwhile, the driving protection circuit of SiC MOSFET is also investigated. The performances of the proposed gate driver have been experimentally evaluated by double pulse test (DPT). In addition, the effect of different external capacitors [Formula: see text] and external driving resistances [Formula: see text] on the switch characteristics of SiC MOSFET is analyzed in detail.