A High Bandwidth Active SiC Gate Driver for Dynamic Adjustment of Electromagnetic Emissions in Electric Vehicles

Jochen Henn, Leonard Heine, Philipp Dechent, Rik W. De Doncker, PCIM Europe digital days 2020, 7 - 8 July 2020.

Abstract

This paper presents an active gate driver for SiC MOSFETs which is able to influence the switching behavior of the semiconductors to dynamically adjust electromagnetic emissions. The presented approach employs discrete high bandwidth current mirrors that are controlled by an FPGA. This way, the circuit makes use of low priced components to achieve a simple and cost-effective design while surpassing other approaches in bandwidth and functionality. Simulations in LTspice are shown to prove the feasibility of this approach and to enable predictions of the switching behavior in the later application. An experimental verification of the basic functions is presented on an 800 V half-bridge setup. It is shown that the power loop oscillations are damped by 65% and the emissions are reduced by 10 dBmuV around the resonance point of the power loop.

Link: IEEE