Improvement in Short-Circuit Robustness of SiC-MOSFETs based Power Modules using Two-Level Turn-On (2LTO)

One of the challenges in design of power modules is to have an increased robustness in failure modes and a superior performance during normal operation. The state-of-the-art methods to increase the short-circuit type 1 (SC1) robustness include changes in the design of a power semiconductor, a fixed decrease of on-state gate-source voltage and modifications in a power module layout. However, increasing the SC1 robustness usually results in a reduced conduction performance. This paper presents the use of a two-level turn-on (2LTO) method realized with an intelligent current-source gate driver (CSGD). It increases the robustness in SC1 using the first level and enhances the conduction performance using the second level of gate voltage. The double pulse (DP) and SC1 measurements validate that 2LTO method effectively increases SC1 robustness without significantly influencing the switching performance.