Thermal Stability of Gate Driver Circuits Based on 4H-SiC MOSFETs at 300°C for High-Power Applications
Vuong Van Cuong, T. Meguro, Seiji Ishikawa, Tomonori Maeda, Hiroshi Sezaki, Shin-Ichiro Kuroki
Abstract
The operation and reliability of gate driver circuits based on 4H-SiC MOSFETs at temperatures up to 300°C were reported. Due to the advantages of 4H-SiC MOSFETs, the driver circuit can overcome limitations in complicated circuit design and power dissipation associated with SiC BJTbased technology. Additionally, the stability of implanted 4H-SiC resistors can address the reliability issues of SiC CMOS-based driver circuits, which are caused by the instability in the threshold voltage of P-channel SiC MOSFETs. In this study, the switching characteristics of the gate driver circuit were improved when the ambient temperature increased. The decrease of threshold voltage and increase of carrier mobility of the 4H-SiC MOSFETs may account for the improvement in switching characteristics of the gate driver circuit. The output signal of the gate driver circuit still showed proper characteristics after 600 min of continuous operation at 300°C in an air ambient. These results indicate that the gate driver circuit based on 4H-SiC MOSFET technology is promising to apply for high power applications.