R _DS(on) vs. inductance: comparison of SiC MOSFETs in 7pin D2Pak and 4pin TO‐247 and their benefits for high‐power MHz inverters

Abstract

In this work, the authors present their investigations of the benefits of combining the latest silicon carbide MOSFETs with novel packages for electronic ballasts of inductively coupled plasmas. Such plasmas require MHz inverters with output powers above 2 kW. Additionally, for a breakthrough of the technology efficiencies >90% have to be realised. It has been shown that a combination is achievable with SiC FETs. Nevertheless, even though the transistors have undergone significant development in recent years, one limiting factor has mostly remained untouched. The common TO-247 package does not fit to the requirements of a fast switching application. Within the latest launch of the new generations of SiC MOSFETs, some are available in novel packages with kelvin source connection, like 4pin TO-247 and 7pin D2Pak. The authors compare three versions of the latest generation in a resonant full-bridge inverter and in application-oriented test. Thereby, the 7pin D2Pak and one of the 4pin TO-247 transistors were 65 mΩ devices and the second 4pin TO-247 FET was a 45 mΩ device. For the investigations, the authors made simulations, built three MHz inverters, and conducted measurements. Consequently, efficiencies of 93.9% could be achieved at a switching frequency of 2.5 MHz and an output power of P out =2.6 kW.

Inductive Medium Pressure UV-Source

“…The inverter with the Infineon SiC MOSFETs in 4pin TO-247 package, presented in [8], is used to operate the inductive medium pressure lamp. The experimental setup is shown in Figure 2.…”

“…Only by using SiC FETs in new packages, which were optimized for fast switching, it is possible to achieve efficiencies above 90%. In [8] the benefits of using the latest generation of SiC MOSFETs with novel packages are presented. Three types of MHz inverters with SiC MOSFETs were built and tested.…”

“…Their development was primarily limited by the used transistors based on silicon (Si) semiconductors. However, it has already been demonstrated that efficient MHz inverters with high output power can be realized by using gallium nitride (GaN) [4] or silicon carbide (SiC) field-effect transistor (FETs) [5][6][7][8]. The influence of different packages and transistor technologies on the switching behaviour, the loss distribution and the efficiency were investigated in [8].…”

High-Voltage Stations for Electric Vehicle Fast-Charging: Trends, Standards, Charging Modes and Comparison of Unity Power-Factor Rectifiers

“…In this sense, series connection on the T-type topology results in an increase in resistive and parasitic components such as inductances, which will cause greater power losses and overshoots in voltage and current. Additionally, this effect can be increased if discrete devices are used instead of modules, since they have higher values of parasitic inductances because of their packaging [138][139][140]. Due to the structure of the Vienna 6-switch, the commutation-cell area is reduced with the use of a snubber capacitor very near commutationcell.…”

Demonstration of a Class E push-pull resonant inverter for MHz induction heating

“…This can be drastically improved by replacing the tubes with solid state devices, in particular by taking advantage of wide band gap (WBG) technology [4], [5]. In a variety of applications, DC-AC inverters (or equivalently, switched-mode amplifiers) operating with high efficiency at MHz frequencies and several kW have been demonstrated [6]- [9]. These advancements hold promise for further utilization of WBG devices for RF inverters in heating applications by pushing towards higher operating frequency, power delivery, and efficiency of the inverters.…”