Design Rules to Adapt the Desaturation Detection for SiC MOSFET Modules

Abstract

This paper presents an overcurrent and shortcircuit (SC) detection method for high current SiC MOSFET modules adapting the existing desaturation detection (=UCE,desat method), which is state-of-the-art for IGBTs. These adjustments include separate detection paths for hard switching faults (HSF), faults under load (FUL) and overcurrents (OC). It includes preventive gate clamping and soft shut down as well. Test results show a reliable detection and shut down of overcurrents, HSF and FUL while not influencing the normal switching behaviour of the device.