SiC versus Si—Evaluation of Potentials for Performance Improvement of Inverter and DC–DC Converter Systems by SiC Power Semiconductors

TLDR

Wide bandgap materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) provide significant switch‑level performance improvements over silicon, as demonstrated by high‑frequency inverter drives using SiC diodes. The study evaluates the impact of SiC devices on system‑level performance—efficiency, power density, and related metrics—of industrial inverter drives and DC‑DC converters. This assessment employs analytical optimization and prototype systems, examining normally‑on JFETs from SiCED and normally‑off JFETs from SemiSouth.

Abstract

Switching devices based on wide bandgap materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) offer a significant performance improvement on the switch level (specific on resistance, etc.) compared with Si devices. Well-known examples are SiC diodes employed, for example, in inverter drives with high switching frequencies. In this paper, the impact on the system-level performance, i.e., efficiency, power density, etc., of industrial inverter drives and of dc-dc converter resulting from the new SiC devices is evaluated based on analytical optimization procedures and prototype systems. There, normally on JFETs by SiCED and normally off JFETs by SemiSouth are considered.