Dynamic behavior analysis and characterization of a cascode rectifier based on a normally-on SiC JFET

A cascode rectifier structure brings the advantage of very low conduction losses due to its low forward voltage drop and dynamic resistance. The main application of this structure is the front-end rectifiers for AC/DC power converters and OR power gates for power converters in parallel connection, where they can achieve an improvement of the overall efficiency thanks to the previous advantage. However, this structure could also be very interesting used as a high frequency diode, i.e. as a freewheeling diode in a switching power supply. In order to validate this approach, this paper presents an analysis and characterization of the dynamic behavior of a cascode rectifier based on a normally-on SiC JFET.