A Smart Silicon Carbide LED Driver IC With Integrated Dual-Level Condition-Monitoring Mechanism

To address ever-mounting reliability challenges faced by silicon carbide (SiC) power devices, this article develops an innovative dual-level condition-monitoring mechanism aimed at bolstering the robustness of power circuits. This monitoring mechanism is structured to scrutinize both chip and package levels. It also introduces an
in-situ
reliability-aware modulator to evaluate chip-level degradation precursor
$T_\textit{ON}$
, package-level aging precursor dynamic on-resistance
$r_\textit{DS{\_}ON}$
, and the device's end-of-failure indicator
$I_\textit{GSS}$
jointly. From a circuit design perspective, an integrated gate-driving module incorporates functions for
$T_\textit{ON}$
and
$I_\textit{GSS}$
extraction seamlessly, allowing for intelligent self-sensing with minimal design complexity. To validate the efficacy of these research endeavors, an SiC LED driver integrated circuit (IC) prototype was developed on a 180-nm HV bipolar-CMOS-DMOS process, with an active die area of 1.12 mm
²
. The IC facilitates a power converter with up to 600 V input voltage, which efficiently regulates a nominal LED current of 300 mA at a maximum switching frequency of 500 kHz and delivers a maximum output power of 150 W. In comparison to its silicon-based counterpart, the SiC power converter operates at lower junction temperature, thereby enhancing thermal management capacity by around 16%. The integrated gate driver and the
in-situ
reliability-aware modulator occupy a mere 0.17 mm
²
of die area. The work successfully demonstrates consistent monitoring of both chip and package-related degradations, showcasing variations of 11.7% and 3.8%, respectively. It offers a highly cost-effective solution for mitigating the reliability challenges linked to SiC devices for high-performance power applications.