Abstract
The world is currently experiencing major advancement in the electrification of both the industrial and commercial sectors. This is part of an effort to reduce reliance on combustible fuels, reduce emissions, integrate renewable energy systems and increase efficiency. Due to the complexity of modern circuits and systems, any circuit’s design should start with proper simulation and device selection, to reduce overall cost and time of prototyping, both of which require accurate and thorough device characterization. Wide bandgap (WBG) power semiconductor devices offer superior characteristics over conventional devices, including faster switching speeds, higher breakdown voltage, lower losses, and higher operating temperature. These properties call for special test circuits and procedures for accurate characterization. In this work, custom characterization circuits and fixtures, suitable for WBG devices are designed, tested, and described. The circuits measure several of the main characteristics of voltage controlled WBG power switches. Different technology devices were tested and characterized.
Highlights
With the advancements of power electronics and their applications, demand is rising to use devices with higher voltages, smaller footprints, and lower energy consumption. This is especially true for wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices, which offer superior characteristics over conventional devices, including faster switching, higher breakdown voltage, lower losses, and higher operating temperature [1,2,3,4]
As explained above, detailed analysis of design parasitics was considered in the schematic circuit, circuit device elements, and PCB layout
A separate gate drive board was designed that is directly connected to the pins of the device under test (DUT)
Summary
With the advancements of power electronics and their applications, demand is rising to use devices with higher voltages, smaller footprints, and lower energy consumption. This is especially true for wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices, which offer superior characteristics over conventional devices, including faster switching, higher breakdown voltage, lower losses, and higher operating temperature [1,2,3,4]. Manufacturers go through a detailed process in developing data sheets using device characteristics, but only under certain operating conditions. When pushing a device to its operating limits, circuit designers may prefer to characterize the device at different operating conditions, better related to desired operation. The properties of WBG devices require special test beds and procedures to accurately characterize such devices [5]
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