Full SiC soft switching inverter — Stability performance for false turn on phenomenon

The wide band-gap semiconductor devices have become more and more important for high efficiency and high temperature industrial applications. However one technical difficulty arise in experimental test in the applications of the wide band-gap semiconductors. Its difficulty is the false turn on phenomenon in the bridge type power converter. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance the false turn on phenomenon using SiC power semiconductor devices in both the conventional hard switching and the soft switching inverter. The power efficiency and the gate-source voltage were analyzed using comparative experimental data between the soft switching and hard switching full SiC inverter. It was found that the soft switching method improves stability operation in case of SiC applications. Furthermore, the soft switching method allows the inverter system higher frequency operation because of its controlled switching losses. The experimental test results indicate that the soft switching method is suitable for the wide band-gap semiconductor applications from the efficiency and stability point of view.