SC Parameters Extraction of SiC-MOSFETs and Application in Advanced Gate Drivers

Silicon carbide (SiC) power metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) face challenge of short-circuit (SC) in practice. This paper first presents SC behaviors and discusses two types of SC failure mechanisms in SiC-MOSFETs. The analysis shows that an advanced gate driver based on information such as short-circuit peak current (SCPC) and short-circuit withstand time (SCWT) is the essential means to keep SiC-MOSFETs safe and enhance converters' fault ride-through capability. Therefore, an electric model and an electro thermal model based on thermal diffusion equations have been built to estimate SCPC and SCWT. In order to prove the accuracy of built models, some typical simulation results have been compared with experimental results picked from previous literature. After that, a commercial 1.2 kV SiC-MOSFET has been simulated under different working conditions with driving signals from 16 to 20V, DC bus voltages from 300 to 800 V, and different initial case temperatures. In doing so, overall SC parameters of SiC-MOSFETs are obtained. Finally, a design summary of advanced gate drivers based on SCPC and SCWT are presented.