High temperature (≫200°C) isolated gate drive topologies for Silicon Carbide (SiC) JFET

Author

Waffler, S. ; Round, S.D. ; Kolar, J.W.

Author_Institution

Power Electron. Syst. Lab., ETH Zurich, Zurich

fYear

2008

fDate

10-13 Nov. 2008

Firstpage

2867

Lastpage

2872

Abstract

Volume and weight limitations for components in hybrid electrical vehicle (HEV) propulsion systems demand highly-compact and highly-efficient power electronics. The application of silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor technology in conjunction with high temperature (HT) operation allows the power density of the DC-DC converters and inverters to be increased. Elevated ambient temperatures of above 200degC also affects the gate drives attached to the power semiconductors. This paper focuses on the selection of HT components and discusses different gate drive topologies for SiC JFETs with respect to HT operation capability, limitations, dynamic performance and circuit complexity. An experimental performance comparison of edge-triggered and phase-difference HT drivers with a conventional room temperature JFET gate driver is given. The proposed edge-triggered gate driver offers high switching speeds and a cost effective implementation. Switching tests at 200degC approve an excellent performance at high temperature and a low temperature drift of the driver output voltage.

Keywords

circuit complexity; circuit testing; driver circuits; electric propulsion; hybrid electric vehicles; junction gate field effect transistors; power field effect transistors; power semiconductor devices; silicon compounds; JFET; SiC; circuit complexity; conventional room temperature JFET gate driver; driver output voltage; edge-triggered HT drivers; high temperature operation; hybrid electrical vehicle propulsion systems; isolated gate drive topologies; low temperature drift; phase-difference HT drivers; power electronics; power semiconductors; temperature 200 degC; temperature 293 K to 298 K; Circuit topology; DC-DC power converters; Driver circuits; Hybrid electric vehicles; Inverters; Isolation technology; Power electronics; Propulsion; Silicon carbide; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Industrial Electronics, 2008. IECON 2008. 34th Annual Conference of IEEE

Conference_Location

Orlando, FL

ISSN

1553-572X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1767-4

Electronic_ISBN

1553-572X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IECON.2008.4758414

Filename

4758414