Open AccessPerformance evaluation of GaN and Si based driver circuits for a SiC MOSFET power switch
Author(s) -
M. J. Carra,
Hernan Tacc,
J. Lipovetzky
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of power electronics and drive systems/international journal of electrical and computer engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2722-2578
pISSN - 2722-256X
DOI - 10.11591/ijpeds.v12.i3.pp1293-1303
Subject(s) - gallium nitride , silicon carbide , electronic circuit , mosfet , power (physics) , materials science , computer science , driver circuit , switching time , electronic engineering , electrical engineering , optoelectronics , transistor , voltage , nanotechnology , engineering , physics , layer (electronics) , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
Silicon Carbide (SiC), new power switches (PSW) require new driver circuits which can take advantage of their new capabilities. In this paper a novel Gallium Nitride (GaN) based gate driver is proposed as a solution to control SiC power switches. The proposed driver is implemented and is performance compared with its silicon (Si) counterparts on a hard switching environment. A thorough evaluation of the energy involved in the switching process is presented showing that the GaN based circuit exhibits similar output losses but reduces the control power needed to operate at a specified frequency.