Experimental Demonstration of Ultra-Fast SiC MOSFET Overload Protection Using Embedded Current and Temperature Sensors

Abstract

Fault protection of AC and DC network using semiconductors requires accurate electrothermal design of active and passive devices to keep power losses low in nominal condition and to sustain high current overload. Using SiC MOSFET for SSPC arises challenges to keep power losses low and to ensure robustness versus abnormal operating condition. Indeed, unpredictable events can dramatically damage the device integrity such as current overload, short-circuit... To overcome those issues, ones are generally carefully design driving system, implementing sensors and fast digital control circuit computing to sense simultaneously current, voltage and temperature, to analyze and detect abnormal operating condition. To reduce the whole detection transmission and reaction chain, we have designed a 1200V ; 30A ; 65mΩ instrumented SiC MOSFET, including both a current mirror and a temperature sensor in the active area of the die. This paper reports for the first-time real-time SiC instrumented MOSFET temperature and current measurement without the need of external sensors nor estimators.