TY - GEN
T1 - Ruggedness evaluation of 56mm2, 180 A SiC DMOSFETs as a function of pulse repetition rate for high power applications
AU - Lawson, K.
AU - Schrock, J.
AU - Ray, W.
AU - Bayne, S.
AU - Cheng, L.
AU - Palmour, J.
AU - Allen, S.
AU - Scozzie, C.
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - Modern power electronics systems try to maximize power density and efficiency. As such, the active switch is required to safely handle very stressful transient conditions. A 56 mm2, 180 A, SiC DMOSFET manufactured by Cree Inc. is evaluated by electrically stressing the device in a RLC ring-down test system capable of producing peak current in excess of 600 A (>3X rated current) and di/dt's as high as 860 A/μs. The device was hard-switched 5,000 times at repetition rates of 1, 2, 5, and 10 Hz for a total of 20,000 switching events. The device characteristics were monitored every 1,000 shots on a high power curve tracer to determine device degradation. The devices showed no changes in blocking characteristics and minimal changes in on-state characteristics due to shifts in the threshold voltage after 20,000 hard switching events. The threshold voltage shifts over the test period are minimal with a +/- 93 mV deviation from the average of 4.39 V. With the stability of the threshold voltage, on-state characteristics, and blocking characteristics; this shows that this device would perform reliably within commercial applications that include stressful switching conditions.
AB - Modern power electronics systems try to maximize power density and efficiency. As such, the active switch is required to safely handle very stressful transient conditions. A 56 mm2, 180 A, SiC DMOSFET manufactured by Cree Inc. is evaluated by electrically stressing the device in a RLC ring-down test system capable of producing peak current in excess of 600 A (>3X rated current) and di/dt's as high as 860 A/μs. The device was hard-switched 5,000 times at repetition rates of 1, 2, 5, and 10 Hz for a total of 20,000 switching events. The device characteristics were monitored every 1,000 shots on a high power curve tracer to determine device degradation. The devices showed no changes in blocking characteristics and minimal changes in on-state characteristics due to shifts in the threshold voltage after 20,000 hard switching events. The threshold voltage shifts over the test period are minimal with a +/- 93 mV deviation from the average of 4.39 V. With the stability of the threshold voltage, on-state characteristics, and blocking characteristics; this shows that this device would perform reliably within commercial applications that include stressful switching conditions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905443943&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ISPSD.2014.6856036
DO - 10.1109/ISPSD.2014.6856036
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84905443943
SN - 9781479929177
T3 - Proceedings of the International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs
SP - 301
EP - 304
BT - Proceedings of the 26th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs, ISPSD 2014
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Y2 - 15 June 2014 through 19 June 2014
ER -