Surge Current Analysis of Commercial off-the-shelf 1200 V Silicon Carbide JBS Diodes and MOSFET Body Diodes

As an increasing number of silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor devices become commercially available, and as silicon devices have reached their theoretical power density limits, SiC devices are being utilized in an increasing number of power electronics and pulsed power applications. A few examples of these applications include high-power DC-DC converters, inverters, motor drives, or high-voltage pulse generators such as a solid-state Marx generator. To encourage further adoption of SiC devices in these and other applications, further reliability testing and analysis must be conducted. One parameter that is important to study is the surge current capability of both SiC diodes and the body diodes of SiC MOSFETs. In this research, a surge current testbed was designed and built to test commercially available 1200 V / 10 A SiC JBS diodes from 3 different manufacturers, and the body diodes of 1200 V / 10 A SiC MOSFETs from 3 different manufacturers. The purpose of this work is to independently verify manufacturer datasheet claims regarding the surge current capabilities of their diodes. In addition, surge current ratings on the body diodes of the SiC MOSFETs are determined and published.