Comparing the switching performance of SiC MOSFET intrinsic body diode to additional SiC schottky diodes in SiC power modules

This paper presents a comparison of the inductive switching losses between a 1200 V SiC MOSFET half bridge power module with anti-parallel SiC schottky barrier diodes (SBD) versus the same power module package utilizing only the intrinsic body diode of the SiC MOSFETs. SBDs can significantly reduce switching losses by reducing the reverse recovery losses experienced during hard-switching events. However, the inclusion of SBDs reduces the chip area available in the module for MOSFETs — thus limiting the current capability of the end product and increasing the cost per amp. This paper investigates the tradeoff between using both SiC MOSFETs and SBDs versus using only SiC MOSFETs in a high performance SiC power module. Understanding the switching performace of each configuration will enable customized power module solutions optimized to maximize performance of the desired application.