Evaluation of high-voltage 4H-SiC switching devices

Jue Wang, Barry W. Williams

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, the on-state and switching performance of 4H-4SiC UMOSFET's, TIGBT's, BJT's, SITh's, and GTO's with voltage ratings from 1 to 10 kV are simulated at different temperatures. Comparison with silicon devices highlights the advantages of SiC technology. SiC BJT's suffer the same problem as Si BJT's, namely the degradation of current gain with increased voltage rating which makes them unsuitable for applications above 4 kV. SiC MOSFET's dominate applications below 4 kV for their attractive conduction performance and advantanges such as ease of use. Above 3 kV, SiC MOSFET's are not as attractive as SiC bipolar devices because of their high on-state voltages. In the voltage range simulated, SiC IGBT's, SITh's, and GTO's have comparable current handling ability. Considering the GTO's slow switching speed and drive complexities, IGBT's and SITh's are a better choice in the voltage range 4-10 kV. Calculations based on conduction loss and switching loss indicate that SiC SITh's are superior to IGBT's except in hightemeprature and high-frequency applications where IGBT's are better. The need to provide a large gate current during turnoff and turn-off failure caused by gate debiasing, decreases the attractiveness of the SITh. © 1999 IEEE Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9383(99)01688-3.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)589-597
Number of pages9
JournalIEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
Volume46
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 1999

Keywords

  • Power switching device
  • Silicon carbide

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Evaluation of high-voltage 4H-SiC switching devices'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this