Compact SiC power module for high speed switching

A silicon carbide (SiC) power module can offer a higher speed switching performance compared to a silicon (Si) power module. The excessive voltage overshooting caused by the fast turn off switching may damage the power module or the application system itself by exceeding its absolute maximum ratings, where the voltage overshooting must be proportional to the current changing rate and the stray inductance in the module. In order to avoid such large overshooting, the reduction of the inductance is necessary. To overcome such problems, we optimized the inductance with a commercially available 3-dimensional electro-magnetic field simulator, and we assembled a SiC MOSFET with the low on-resistance in the module. As a result, we have successfully developed a module suitable for high speed switching in 20 ns. © 2015, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. All rights reserved.