Study and Analysis of Alternative Power Switches with Reverse-Voltage Blocking Capability

Abstract

The current source inverters are becoming competitors of the voltage source inverters largely due to the reduced complexity, improved reliability and potentially improved efficiency. This paper describes the functionality of current source inverters and why they’re becoming increasingly popular. It also discusses about the benefits of SiC over other semiconductors and the use of SiC MOSFETS with reverse voltage blocking capability in current source inverters. Double pulse testing is carried out through simulations on different switch configurations under different conditions using Ltspice, MATLAB and Simulink to determine the turn-on and turn-off switching losses. The tests are performed on a single MOSFET and also in the anti-parallel and half bridge scenario. Altium Designer is used for the PCB design in order to observe the behavior of C3M0075120K which is Cree’s 3rd Generation SiC MOSFET through hardware implementation.