Characterization and performance evaluation of state-of-the-art 3.3 kV 30 a full-SiC MOSFETs

Abstract

With their intrinsic superiorities such as high breakdown electric field and high thermal conductivity, SiC MOSFETs are replacing Si IGBTs in power electronics applications. However, at higher voltages SiC MOSFETs are at early stage of development and are not commercialized yet. For the first time, this paper presents thorough static and dynamic performance characterization of 3.3 kV and 30 A discrete full-SiC MOSFETs. The devices under test are non-commercialized samples from Sumitomo Electric Industries. A complete static characterization is performed from 25°C up to 150°C on the semiconductors. Also for dynamic tests, a double-pulse tester with a fast gate driver circuit is designed and tests are performed at 25°C, 100°C and 150°C. Key characteristics such as on-resistance and switching losses are compared to those of a Si IGBT with similar voltage and current rating in order to assess advantages of SiC MOSFETs over existing Si semiconductors. Following static and dynamic characterization, performance of the devices is evaluated in boost converter topology and the results are compared to that of Si IGBTs. The evaluation results show significant superiority for SiC MOSFETs in terms of efficiency, maximum possible switching frequency and system power density.