Overvoltage and Ringing in a State-of-the-art SiC MOSFET Power Module for Traction Inverters

Research teams from industry and academia have highlighted the advantages obtained from the introduction of Silicon Carbide (SiC) traction inverter power modules. Similarly, commercial solutions already benefit from SiC traction inverter in terms of performance as well as in terms of economical investment. Notwithstanding, the good features there are some issues due to the fast switching ability of SiC MOSFET. In such a contest, is the fine-tuning of a proper simulation tool is the first for an optimal design of the conversion systems, especially, the snubbers necessary to mitigate turn-off overvoltage and ringing of SiC MOSFET devices. In this perspective, this paper combines Ansys Q3D analysis and Spice simulations to foresee the SiC MOSFET Power Module waveforms. The experimental results have highlighted a good accuracy of the tool at predicting the performance of the module and the boundary operating conditions.