Comparative Performance Study of Hybrid Si/SiC Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistors

Abstract

This paper studies the performance of hybrid Si/SiC IGBTs, in comparison with conventional Si devices, in the prospect of future commercialization of all-SiC IGBTs. Both commercially available and custom-developed device models are evaluated, via LTspice® simulations, in a simple step-down DC-DC conversion application. For the simulation models of commercial, discrete, hybrid IGBTs, devices by Infineon Technologies® are considered, with voltage and current ratings of up to 650 V and 75 A, respectively. High-performance SiC Schottky diodes are also employed, as IGBT antiparallel diodes, in various scenarios. Simulations are carried out for various IGBT cases and operating conditions (i.e., temperature, switching frequency), whereas the device power losses (conduction and switching) are estimated for each case. Finally, simulation results highlight the minimized power losses and the superior performance of hybrid Si/SiC IGBTs, compared to standard Si devices.