Gate driver design for 1.7kV SiC MOSFET module with Rogowski current sensor for shortcircuit protection

This paper shows a gate driver design for 1.7 kV SiC MOSFET module as well a Rogowski-coil based current sensor for effective short circuit protection. The design begins with the power architecture selection for better common-mode noise immunity as the driver is subjected to high dv/dt due to the very high switching speed of the SiC MOSFET modules. The selection of the most appropriate gate driver IC is made to ensure the best performance and full functionalities of the driver, followed by the circuitry designs of paralleled external current booster, Soft Turn-Off, and Miller Clamp. In addition to desaturation, a high bandwidth PCB-based Rogowski current sensor is proposed to serve as a more effective method for the short circuit protection for the high-cost SiC MOSFET modules.