Abstract

Silicon-carbide (SiC) transistors with growing readiness for the power converter market have raised an emerging need for high-performance gate driver (GD) units to maximize their remarkable characteristics. In particular, the GD units for the SiC devices that experience extremely fast commutations at the medium-voltage level require powerful driving capability, effective short-circuit (SC) protection, and superb common-mode transient immunity. Thereby, this article presents a systematic enhanced GD (eGD) solution that incorporates three scalable features compatible with almost all the SiC MOSFET modules. First, a BJT-based multicell current booster is proposed to attain balanced high driving current, low losses, gate-loop inductance less than 1 nH, and great cross-talk immunity. Second, a nonintrusive Rogowski switch-current sensor with high bandwidth and fair accuracy is developed, capable of detecting SC fault in 86 ns and softly turning OFF 5 kA SC current in 1 mu s. Third, two noise-free isolation architectures are proposed to mitigate common-mode noise-admittance by more than 100 dB. Fundamentals, analytical designs, experimental validations, and scalability discussions of the three techniques are elaborated, respectively. Finally, a 6-kV, 84-A, and 102-V/ns continuous pump-back test is demonstrated, for the first time, to verify the eGD's excellent performance.