A Self-Driving 3-Level Active Gate Driver Network to Control the Switching Slew Rate for SiC MOSFETs

Abstract:
This paper presents a self-driving 3-level active gate driver (3L-AGD) for SiC MOSFETs. It consists of two simple networks that adjust the gate resistance R(G) during the switching transient without the need for a muC or FPGA. This results in a less complex system compared to most current solutions. The double-pulse test confirms the operating principle of the self-driving 3L-AGD. In addition, the results with the 3L-AGD show that switching losses can be reduced by 5% to 20% with the same or lower current overshoot compared to a conventional gate driver.