Degradation characteristics of SiC power devices for DC circuit breaker by repetitive unclamped inductive switching test

• Published in: Microelectronics and reliability Vol. 100-101; p. 113417
• Main Authors: Sagara, Mitsuhiko, Wada, Keiji, Nishizawa, Shin-ichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2019
• Subjects: DC breaker; Repetitive UIS tests; Semiconductor DC circuit breaker; SiC-JFET; SiC-MOSFET; Semiconductor DC circuit breaker; SiC-MOSFET; SiC-JFET; DC breaker; Repetitive UIS tests
• ISSN: 0026-2714; 1872-941X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.microrel.2019.113417

This paper investigates the degradation of SiC power devices for DC circuit breaker through repetitive unclamped inductive switching (UIS) tests. The ON resistance of SiC power devices such as MOSFET and JFET are lower compared with Si devices. Therefore, SiC power devices are suitable for use as DC circuit breakers. Several papers have discussed degradation of SiC power devices; however, few studies have determined a suitable power device for a DC breaker from a degradation standpoint. In this paper, four types of SiC devices were subjected to repetitive UIS tests. Our research demonstrated SiC-JFET to be suitable for a DC breaker. •This paper investigates the degradation of four types of SiC power device for DC circuit breaker through repetitive UIS tests.•The results of characteristic degradation were shown from IV characteristics and gate waveform.•Our research demonstrated SiC-JEET to be suitable for a DC breaker.