A novel high‐voltage solid‐state switch based on the SiC MOSFET series and its overcurrent protection

Abstract

All‐solid‐state switches are one of the core components of pulsed power supply systems. However, the voltage level of a single switch is limited. By optimizing the chip structure, the voltage level of a single switch can be improved. Due to the immaturity of the production process and the positive correlation between the blocking voltage and the on‐resistance of the switch, it is difficult to improve the blocking voltage and the continuous forward current of a single switch simultaneously. The series‐connected switch is a way to increase the switch's blocking voltage without reducing the switch's continuous forward current. Magnetically coupled isolated drive and resistor‐capacitor forced voltage equalization techniques are investigated to increase the blocking voltage of the switches using multiple SiC metal‐oxide‐semiconductor field‐effect transistors (MOSFETs) in series connections. Meanwhile, a special overcurrent protection scheme is designed to improve the reliability of the series‐connected switch. Finally, a high‐voltage solid‐state switch is developed based on the SiC MOSFET series connections, whose output pulse width is adjustable from 20 to 300 μs, frequency is adjustable from 1 Hz to 3 kHz, the maximum output voltage can reach 57 kV (1 Hz), and the overcurrent protection time is about 1 μs.

A High-Voltage Pulse Modulator Composed of SiC MOSFETs/IGBTs in a Hybrid Connecting State

“…The larger the leakage current of the SiC MOSFET and IGBT in parallel, the smaller the leakage resistance. According to the calculation regarding the "RCD" snubber circuit of series solid switches [18], R S should satisfy Formula (1) as follows:…”

“…At kHz repetition frequency, the required heat sink structure is simple, and could even be ignored. And the series number is half of that of a modulator with a 1200 V IGBT [18].…”

Modulating sparks in a pulse train for repetitive and energy efficient plasma generation

“…We used DeePlasKin to regulate the amplitude based on a pre-defined frequency. For the pin discharge, we chose three frequencies 15 MHz to design the voltage amplitudes shown in Figure 10. Different initial electron densities (1 � 10 14 cm −3 , 8 � 10 13 cm −3 , 6 � 10 13 cm −3 ) correspond to the three frequencies.…”

“…Compared with arc discharges, active species can produce more energy efficiently through the rich non-equilibrium chemical processes in spark plasma. The unique features of spark discharge plasma have attracted increasing attention from the community of ignition and combustion [2][3][4][5], flow control [6,7], surface treatment [8][9][10], energy conversion [11][12][13], high-voltage switch design [14,15], laser ignition [16,17], and material engineering [18,19].…”

Improved assembly DC circuit breaker based on resonant current injection

“…Multiple topologies and concepts have thus far been put forth to safeguard multi-terminal DC grids [ 11 – 13 ]. There are three main categories of DCCBs: mechanical DCCBs (MDCCBs), solid-state DCCBs (SSDCCBs) [ 14 – 16 ] and hybrid DCCBs (HDCCBs) [ 17 – 21 ]. Mechanical DCCBs have the advantage of lower losses and cost than SSDCCBs.…”