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This paper presents a novel current-source gate driver for Silicon Carbide (SiC) metal oxide semiconductor fieldeffect transistors (MOSFETs) with adaptive functionalities. The proposed driver aims to decouple and improve controllability of di/dt, dv/dt, as well as to decrease turn-on and turn-off delay times compared to conventional totem-pole voltage-source gate drivers and conventional current-source gate drivers. The circuit topology of the proposed gate driver and the working principle are analysed for the turn-on and turn-off processes. Furthermore, the driving requirements in terms of gate voltage and gate current for SiC MOSFETs that determine the design and tuning of gate drivers are presented. The performance of the proposed gate driver is validated experimentally on a 3.3 kV/750 A SiC MOSFET half-bridge power module. It is shown that, compared to conventional voltage-source gate drivers, the driver is capable of significantly reducing turn-on and turn-off delay times by approximately 57% and 33%, respectively. Moreover, the proposed gate driver enables 233% controllability of di/dt and 87% of dv/dt.

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Silicon Carbide power semiconductors exhibit fast dynamic behavior. This facilitates the design of high efficiency and high power density converters. However, the resulting current and voltage changing rates demand extensive filtering to avoid electromagnetic interference and ensure safe operation. In addition, temperature fluctuations due to varying load currents from renewable energy sources pose challenges for power semiconductor device lifetime and reliability. Active temperature control can reduce temperature fluctuations, but affects switching slopes simultaneously. This leads to variable electrical stress on both device and circuit level. In this paper, a four-level active voltage-source gate driver for SiC MOSFETs is proposed, enabling manipulation of switching and conduction losses. Switching losses are manipulated by controlling the duration as well as amplitude of intermediate gate voltage pulses during switching transients. Conduction losses can be influenced by adjusting the positive gate voltage. Simulations indicate that the proposed gate driver allows decoupling switching loss and slope control. To validate the gate driver concept, a prototype has been built and evaluated in double pulse test experiments.

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