Review on SiC-MOSFET Devices and Associated Gate Drivers
Résumé
Silicon (Si) power devices have dominated the
world of Power Electronics in the last years, and they have
proven to be efficient in a wide range of applications. But high
power, high frequency and high temperature applications require
more than Si can deliver. Wide Band-Gap (WBG) materials
such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) were
intensively researched and developed for power applications due
to the substantial advantages their inherent material properties
could realize at device level. The SiC-MOSFET has unique
capabilities that make it a superior switch when compared to
its silicon counterparts. By nature of its material advantages,
SiC MOSFETs provide lower switching loss, lower ON-resistance
across its operating temperature range, and superior thermal
properties. However the characteristics of SiC devices require
consideration of the gate-driver circuit to optimize the switching
performance. SiC-MOSFETs, due to their ultra fast switching
speed, are susceptible to have harsh transients introduced by
rapid change in the drain-to-source voltage. Therefore, the gate
drive requirements of SiC-MOSFETs require a thorough analysis
in order to prevent high dv/dt transients from causing erratic
switching behavior or unnecessary switching loss. This paper
provides a general review on the properties of SiC comparing
some performances between Si-MOSFETs and SiC-MOSFETs
for typical power electronics applications. The main constraints
and issues of the SiC-MOSFET switching process are presented,
and some recent proposed Gate Drivers to solve these constraints
are presented throughout this work.