SiC MOSFET gate drive design considerations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance on how to design gate driver circuits for Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs. There are new commercially available SiC MOSFETs available in discrete and module packages which are much faster and more efficient than their traditional IGBT counterparts. To take full advantage of these benefits we need to understand the requirements for a new breed of gate drivers that are tailored to meet the unique drive and protection characteristics of SiC MOSFETs. Traditional IGBT based fault protection schemes such as desaturation (desat) detection can be implemented with some modifications to protect SiC MOSFETs. However, due to the higher switching speed of the new SiC devices, it is worth another look at all the design and implementation aspects of a good SiC MOSFET gate driver.