Abstract
Wide bandgap (WBG) devices are becoming increasingly popular due to their excellent material properties. WBG devices are commercially available in discrete and module packages. Many studies have investigated the design, structure and benefits of module packages. However, a comprehensive and in-depth overview of the discrete package is lacking. Discrete package has the advantages of flexibility, scalability and reduced cost; however, challenges of severe switching oscillations and limited current capacity are associated with it. This review encompasses the switching oscillations and limited current capacity issues of discrete devices. Switching oscillations are categorized in terms of voltage. The underlying oscillation mechanisms are explored in detail. For the current imbalance, the types, root causes and adverse effects in parallel-connected discrete devices application are reviewed. Besides, the most recent techniques to extract stray parameters are also explored. Finally, state-of-the-art methods to mitigate the switching oscillations and the current imbalance are summarized and evaluated. The performance improvement strategies discussed in this paper can assist researchers to better use the discrete package and can stimulate them to come up with new solutions.
Highlights
1.1 Overview of Discrete PackageExcellent material characteristics of Wide bandgap (WBG) devices enable the high efficiency, high frequency and high power density design of power converters
The false turn-on is mainly related with the high d]/dt and di/dt in WBG devices (Khanna et al, 2013; Wang and Chung, 2014; Yanagi et al, 2014; Ishibashi et al, 2015; Jahdi et al, 2015; Wang reported that the difference of RDSon can reach up to 20% and the difference of Vth can reach up to 24% (Wang G. et al, 2014)
Inspired by the common-mode choke’s success to mitigate common mode current in high frequency switching mode power supplies, authors in Zeng et al (2020) employed a differential mode (DM) choke to suppress current imbalance among parallel-connected Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, as the nature of imbalance current is a kind of differential mode
Summary
Excellent material characteristics of WBG devices enable the high efficiency, high frequency and high power density design of power converters They are commercially available in both discrete and module packages (CREE, 2021b; Infineon, 2021a; Infineon, 2021b; Rohm, 2021). Module packages have advantages of high current ratings and low package inductance (Chen et al, 2017; Hou et al, 2020; Lee et al, 2020). They are expensive and lack design flexibility (Jahns and Dai, 2017; Bertelshofer et al, 2019; Lu, 2020). This review provides a comprehensive and in-depth overview of advanced performance improvement strategies to overcome these challenges
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