SiC power diodes provide breakthrough performance for a wide range of applications

Author

Hefner, Allen R., Jr. ; Singh, Ranbir ; Lai, Jih-Sheng ; Berning, David W. ; Bouché, Sébastien ; Chapuy, Christophe

Author_Institution

Div. of Semicond. Electron., Nat. Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Gaithersburg, MD, USA

Volume

16

Issue

2

fYear

2001

fDate

3/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

273

Lastpage

280

Abstract

The electrical performance of silicon carbide (SiC) power diodes is evaluated and compared to that of commercially available silicon (Si) diodes in the voltage range from 600 V through 5000 V. The comparisons include the on-state characteristics, the reverse recovery characteristics, and power converter efficiency and electromagnetic interference (EMI). It is shown that a newly developed 1500-V SiC merged PiN Schottky (MPS) diode has significant performance advantages over Si diodes optimized for various voltages in the range of 600 V through 1500 V. It is also shown that a newly developed 5000 V SiC PiN diode has significant performance advantages over Si diodes optimized for various voltages in the range of 2000 V through 5000 V. In a test case power converter, replacing the best 600 V Si diodes available with the 1500 V SiC MPS diode results in an increase of power supply efficiency from 82% to 88% for switching at 186 kHz, and a reduction in EMI emissions

Keywords

electromagnetic interference; interference suppression; power semiconductor diodes; rectifying circuits; semiconductor materials; silicon compounds; 186 kHz; 600 to 5000 V; 88 percent; EMI; EMI emissions reduction; SiC; SiC merged PiN Schottky diode; SiC power diodes; SiC rectifier; breakthrough performance; electromagnetic interference; fast recovery rectifier; on-state characteristics; power converter efficiency; power supply efficiency increase; reverse recovery characteristics; silicon carbide power diodes; test case power converter; Breakdown voltage; Doping; Electric breakdown; Electromagnetic interference; NIST; Rectifiers; Schottky diodes; Semiconductor diodes; Silicon carbide; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-8993

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/63.911152

Filename

911152