Narrow pulse evaluation of 15 KV SiC MOSFETs and IGBTs

With the progression of silicon carbide (SiC) technologies, single semiconductor switches with higher voltage and current capabilities are emerging. Evaluating the pulsed current capability of SiC semiconductor devices for pulsed power and power electronics applications is required to understand their performance and reliability. This paper presents the narrow pulse evaluation of 15 kV SiC MOSFETs (0.25 cm² active area) and IGBTs (0.32 cm² active area) with pulse widths in the range of 500 ns to 2 μs. Testing results are presented with an 8 kV charge voltage and 50 A and 330 A peak conduction current for the MOSFET and IGBT, respectively. A fairly low inductance (<500 nH) RLC circuit was used to generate the pulses and the device under test (DUT) was switched off during the pulse to create a trapezoidal type current waveform through the device. Transient characteristics, such as turn-on and turnoff times and energies, were measured to benchmark the devices' narrow pulse characteristics. The results presented in this paper demonstrate the characteristics of these devices for over-current narrow pulse applications.