Active protections for normally-on SiC JFETs

Author

Dubois, Fabien ; Risaletto, Damien ; Bergogne, Dominique ; Morel, Herve ; Buttay, Cyril ; Meuret, Regis

Author_Institution

Hispano-Suiza-Safran Power Div., Safran Group, Moissy-Cramayel, France

fYear

2011

fDate

Aug. 30 2011-Sept. 1 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

10

Abstract

Normally-on Silicon Carbide (SiC) JFETs are powerful power switches that allow improvement of the efficiency and high temperature operation of Voltage Fed Inverter (VFI). Moreover, the need for heavy and costly cooling system can be radically decreased due to the high thermal conductivity that exhibits the SiC material compared to Si counterpart. However some safety considerations have to be taken against short-circuit and voltage breakdown. In this paper, it is proposed an overview of the failure mechanisms of the SiC JFET. Fast and reliable solutions to protect SiC JFETs are also presented. Experimental validation of such protections and investigation of gate destruction mode are proposed.

Keywords

invertors; junction gate field effect transistors; reliability; silicon compounds; thermal conductivity; wide band gap semiconductors; SiC; active protections; failure mechanisms; gate destruction mode; normally-on SiC JFET; power switches; reliable solutions; silicon carbide; thermal conductivity; voltage fed inverter; JFETs; Junctions; Logic gates; MOSFET circuits; Noise; Silicon; Silicon carbide; Aerospace; JFET; Normally-On; Protection Device; Safety; SiC;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Power Electronics and Applications (EPE 2011), Proceedings of the 2011-14th European Conference on

Conference_Location

Birmingham

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-167-0

Electronic_ISBN

978-90-75815-15-3

Type

conf

Filename

6020375