Characterization and Evaluation of the State-of-the-Art 3.3-kV 400-A SiC MOSFETs

Abstract

Since their introduction, the SiC-based semiconductors have been of special interest to the field of power electronics, enabling increase in system efficiency, maximum operating temperature, and power density. In higher voltage range, these semiconductors are at early stage of development and yet are not commercialized. This paper investigates state-of-the-art noncommercialized 3.3-kV 400-A full-SiC MOSFETs where for the first time such MOSFETs are thoroughly characterized and their performance is evaluated and compared against similar rating Si counterparts. Extensive static and dynamic characterizations are done with emphasize on enabling conduction and switching loss calculation in any target application. I–V curves for MOSFET and Shottky-barrier diode (SBD), RDSon, C–V curves and threshold voltages are addressed by measurement at different temperatures. Moreover, the SiC MOSFETs are tested in chopper circuit with an inductive load for measurement of switching losses. This is done at 2-kV bus voltage from 50 up to 400 A load current. Finally, simulations are done in MATLAB/Simulink to evaluate the performance of 3.3-kV 400-A modules in medium-voltage high-power industrial drive application. The case study shows advantages of the 3.3-kV SiC MOSFET technology over 3.3-kV Si IGBTs and 1.7-kV SiC MOSFETs from efficiency, installed die area and power density points of view.