Novel driver circuit for switching performance improvements in SiC MOSFETs

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are expected to be an attractive replacement for Si MOSFETs in high power applications due to their high blocking voltage, high switching speed, and low switching losses. However, a high switching speed can lead to voltage and current overshoot as well as oscillation during the switching process, which results in additional losses and severe electromagnetic interference. It can also exceed the limit of the SiC MOSFET and cause irreversible damage to the device. Based on an analysis of the SiC MOSFET switching process voltage and current overshoot and oscillation generation mechanism, a voltage-injected active gate driver (AGD) was proposed. The proposed AGD can suppress the voltage and current overshoot and oscillation by injecting voltage into the gate of the SiC MOSFET during specific switching stages. Experimental results show that when compared with the conventional gate driver (CGD), the proposed AGD can suppress the voltage and current overshoot peaks by 16% and 12%, while reducing voltage and current oscillation times by 58% and 31%, respectively.