A 48 V Belt-Driven Starter Generator (BSG) System is featured with high output current, high starting torque, and highly efficient thermal management. This paper firstly elaborates hardware design considerations of a high power density three-phase BSG inverter to address the challenges of even current distribution among paralleled MOSFETs, small drain-source voltage spike and good thermal dissipation. In order to satisfy the high-current requirement, a careful selection of MOSFET device with high-current rating and low on-resistance has been presented. In order to suppress circulating current among paralleled devices, individual gate resistors have been placed in the gate loop of each MOSFET. In order to provide good thermal dissipation, an Insulated Metal Substrate (IMS) board and single-layer layout technique have been implemented. Multiple low-profile electrolytic capacitors are used to increase the power density of the prototype. Moreover, the use of automotive gate driver IC TLE9180 and microcontroller TC1782 makes the prototype more readily accepted by industry. An improved Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) motor control strategy and a pump-back system based on a virtual machine concept have been implemented to facilitate the validation of the prototype under rated condition without using a real motor. The control algorithm automatically adjusts the onset of field-weakening by using an additional inverter voltage loop and takes into account the nonlinearity of the stator flux linkage by using curve fitting technique, which makes the motor drive adaptive to machine parameter changes as well as DC bus voltage fluctuation. A three-phase BSG inverter prototype with a peak power of 12 kW has been built and tested. The prototype power density has reached 20.3 kW/L. Both PLECS simulations and hardware experiments show a continuous and stable operation with up to 200 A phase current and up to 600 Hz output frequency. Index Terms-BSG inverter, high power density, current sharing, paralleled MOSFETs, IPM control strategy, pump-back system I. INTRODUCTION 1 HE 48 V Belt-Driven Starter Generator (BSG) system has been developed for cost-efficient mass hybridization. Its capability of advanced stop-start, coasting and electric boost can help reduce CO2 emission by up to 10%. For a mild-hybrid application, the 12 V alternator is replaced by the 48 V electric motor which is directly mounted to the engine via a belt [1]. Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (IPMSMs) are commonly used in this BSG system due to their high efficiency, high power density, wide speed range operation, and maintenance-free characteristics [2] [3].Inverter is an essential component which needs to be compactly integrated with the BSG motor. A typical topology of a 48 V BSG inverter is shown in Fig. 1. The power supply is 48 V DC. The peak power can go up to 12