High temperature gate drive circuit for SiC power MOSFET application

A high temperature (HT) gate drive circuit is developed to explore the HT potentials of SiC power devices. Though SiC material has a great potential to make HT power devices, for gate drive and protection, SiC signal level components are still not developed. The proposed HT gate drive circuit is based on transformer isolation and commercially available Si components. Component selection criteria are discussed and performance of the designed circuit is evaluated by computer simulation and experimental testing. The gate drive circuit has been successfully tested in a 190°C thermal chamber and the test results are presented.