Abstract
The significant advance of power electronics in today’s market is calling for high-performance power conversion systems and MEMS devices that can operate reliably in harsh environments, such as high working temperature. Silicon-carbide (SiC) power electronic devices are featured by the high junction temperature, low power losses, and excellent thermal stability, and thus are attractive to converters and MEMS devices applied in a high-temperature environment. This paper conducts an overview of high-temperature power electronics, with a focus on high-temperature converters and MEMS devices. The critical components, namely SiC power devices and modules, gate drives, and passive components, are introduced and comparatively analyzed regarding composition material, physical structure, and packaging technology. Then, the research and development directions of SiC-based high-temperature converters in the fields of motor drives, rectifier units, DC–DC converters are discussed, as well as MEMS devices. Finally, the existing technical challenges facing high-temperature power electronics are identified, including gate drives, current measurement, parameters matching between each component, and packaging technology.
Highlights
Power conversion systems are widely employed in the industry ranging from aircraft, automotive, deep oil/ gas extraction, and space exploration where high-temperature power electronics are required [1,2,3]
CISSOID provides an isolated gate drive circuit integrated with high-temperature SiC MOSFET devices in the shape of the intelligent power module (IPM), which dramatically reduces the effect of the parasitic parameters and allows the maximum ambient temperature up to 225 ◦C [50]
The power density of power electronic equipment will be higher than 14.1 kW/kg, and volume will be less than 13.4 kW/L, efficiency will be higher than 98%, the price will be lower than 3.3 $/kW [63]
Summary
Power conversion systems are widely employed in the industry ranging from aircraft, automotive, deep oil/ gas extraction, and space exploration where high-temperature power electronics are required [1,2,3]. The ambient temperature is expected to reach 150 ◦C since the compressor should be installed close to the gas reservoir, and the system is expected to work reliably under an ambient temperature of 225 ◦C with the lifetime of 5 years [7] Regarding space exploration, it is obviously a “niche” market, but it is quite challenging to develop power electronics used for this application. Existing power converters equipped with SiC power electronic devices can operate at a top junction temperature above 150 ◦C [18,19], the heat-resistance attributions of high-temperature converters will disappear if gate drives cannot endure in a high-temperature environment. This work starts with some of the most prominent applications for high-temperature power electronics, fills such a gap by discussing state-of-the-art high-temperature components technologies, including SiC material, power devices or modules, gate drives, and passive components. The existing challenges in further advance of high-temperature power electronics are discussed
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
