Driver-Integrated Silicon Carbide Based Power Module with Self-Optimized Current-Sensorless Temperature-Driven Deadtime Control

Silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs half-bridge power modules are widely applicable in diversified advanced power electronics converters and systems due to higher breakdown voltage, operating temperature, and reduced dynamic parameters for improving power efficiency and power density concurrently. However, customize-designed external gate driver circuitries are required for commercially available $S$ iC MOSFETs power modules resulting in higher parasitic parameters, leading to excess switching loss, overshoot and ringing on gate-source and drain-source voltages. Moreover, conventional complementary pulse width modulation signals deadtime control of half-bridge circuit relies on applying hall sensor based current sensing methodology, incurring extra power loss and possibly inaccuracy measurements. In this work, a gate driver integrated SiC half-bridge power module (1000 V/23 A), namely “Easy-SiC” power module, is proposed. The proposed solution is not only possessing gate driver integration to minimize gate driver circuitry parasitic parameters for switching performance optimization, but also introducing a novel self-optimized current-sensorless temperature-driven adaptive deadtime control for advanced power modules applications. Electrical and thermal simulation results revealed that the proposed solution could reduce the power module stray inductance and junction-to-case thermal resistance by 25% and 20% respectively, compared with commercially available product having similar specifications and form factor. Additionally, the proposed self-optimized temperature-driven deadtime control without current sensors is successfully demonstrated via preliminary experimental verifications.