September 2020 – Why it’s tough to characterise SiC Power MOSFETs

Published on: 11/09/2020

Switching transients and parasitics can combine to thwart the accurate measurement of important MOSFET operating parameters

SiC Power MOSFETs

Silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs are popular devices because they can switch fast while maintaining high blocking voltages. However, their superior switching qualities also have potential drawbacks. Parasitic inductances caused by less-than-optimal board layouts, along with the SiC MOSFET’s fast dv/dt and di/dt qualities, can create voltage and current overshoot, switching losses, and system instability problems. To prevent such difficulties, designers must understand SiC MOSFET switching qualities in depth.

Additionally, the extremely fast switching speeds of SiC MOSFETs can also present challenges when characterising the devices. For example, equipment selection can often affect test and measurement accuracy. The highly sensitive design and integration schemes of the driving and power stages also play a role in minimising voltage spikes, EMI, and switching losses.

Learn more about the challenges in characterising SiC power MOSFETs, including how to ensure test and measurement accuracy, principles of optimising the loop layout and the purpose of the gate driver design in Littelfuse’s article written by Levi Gant, Xuning Zhang, Ph.D from Littelfuse and published by EE World Online, to view the full article click here.

References
An application note covers the Littelfuse Dynamic Characterisation Platform: https://info.littelfuse.com/littelfuse-dcp-download

GD Rectifiers has access to a wide range of Littelfuse products including their extensive range of fuses, specialty fuses, resettable PTC fuses, medium voltage fuses, industrial power and UL fuses, varistors, LED protectors, arch flash detection, TVS diodes, solar protection relays, solar protection arrays, solar surge protection devices, LED lighting surge protection modules and type 2 surge protection devices.

GD Rectifiers distributes IXYS’ large range of SiC Power MOSFETs including N channel enhancement SiC MOSFET (normally off) with 1200V and 1700V blocking voltage and SiC schottky diodes in MiniBLOC (SOT-227) package featuring 3kV isolation to heatsink and a low impedance.

For further information on the Littelfuse or IXYS product ranges please call our sales team today on: 01444 243 452 or email: enquiries@gdrectifiers.co.uk.