SiC and GaN power transistors switching energy evaluation in hard and soft switching conditions

Ke Li, Paul Evans, Mark Johnson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference proceedingpeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

SiC and GaN power transistors switching energy are compared in this paper. In order to compare switching energy Esw of the same power rating device, a theoretical analysis is given to compare SiC device conduction loss and switching losses change when device maximal blocking voltage reduces by half. After that, Esw of a 650V GaN-HEMT is measured in hard switching condition and is compared with that of a 1200V SiC-MOSFET and a 650V SiC-MOSFET with the same current rating, in which it is shown that Esw of a GaN-HEMT is smaller than a 1200V SiC-MOSFET, which is smaller than 650V SiC-MOSFET. Following by that, in order to reduce device turn-ON switching energy, a zero voltage switching circuit is used to evaluate all the devices. Device output capacitance stored energy Eoss are measured and turn-OFF switching losses are obtained by subtracting Eoss, which shows that GaN-HEMT is sill better than SiC device in terms of switching losses and 1200V SiC-MOSFET has smaller switching losses than 650V SiC-MOSFET.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationWiPDA 2016 - 4th IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages123-128
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781509015764
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Dec 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event4th IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications, WiPDA 2016 - Fayetteville, United States
Duration: 7 Nov 20169 Nov 2016

Publication series

NameWiPDA 2016 - 4th IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications

Workshop

Workshop4th IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications, WiPDA 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityFayetteville
Period7/11/169/11/16

Keywords

  • GaN-HEMT
  • hard switching
  • SiC-MOSFET
  • soft switching
  • Switching energy
  • Wide bandgap power semiconductor device

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials

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