Pairing Gate Drivers to SiC MOSFETs

Guide for Selecting the Right Gate Driver for SiC MOSFETs

Energy Infrastructure applications like EV Charging, Energy Storage, Uninterruptable Power Systems (UPS), and Solar, are pushing system power levels to hundreds of kilowatts and even megawatts. These high-power applications employ half bridge, full bridge and 3-phase topologies duty cycling up to six switches for inverters and BLDC. Depending on the power level and switching speeds, system designers look to a variety of switch technologies, including Silicon, IGBTs, SiC to best fit their application requirements. 

While IGBT’s offer superior thermal performance vs. Silicon solutions in these high-power applications, EliteSiC by onsemi enables both, higher switching speeds and high-power. onsemi offers a complete portfolio of SiC MOSFETs ranging from 650 V to 1700 V breakdown voltage, with RDSON’s as low as 12 mΩ. But, every SiC MOSFET requires the correct Gate Driver to maximize system efficiencies, and minimize the total power losses. This easy-to-use table below pairs the correct Gate Driver to each SiC MOSFET.

EliteSiC MOSFETs Gate Driver: 5 kVRMS Galvanic Isolation
1-Channel (source/sink) 2-Channel (source/sink/matching)
V(BR)DSS RDSON (typ) Package 6.5 A / 6.5 A 4 A / 6 A 6.5 A / 6.5 A / 20 ns 4.5 A / 9 A / 5 ns
650 V 12 mΩ – 95m Ω 3-LD, 4-LD, 7-LD, TOLL, PQFN88 123NCD5709x
123NCV5709x
32 V Output Swing
(SOIC-8) 		123NCD5700x
123NCV5700x
25 V Output Swing
(SOIC-16WB) 		NCD575xx
NCV575xx
32 V Output Swing
(SOIC-16WB) 		1NCP5156x
1NCV5156x
30 V Output Swing
(SOIC-16WB)
750 V 13.5 mΩ 4-LD
900 V 16 mΩ – 60 mΩ 3-LD, 4-LD, 7-LD -
1200 V 14 mΩ – 160 mΩ

3-LD, 4-LD, 7-LD

 -
1700 V 28 mΩ - 960 mΩ 4-LD, 7-LD - - - -

Gate Driver: Peak source current / peak sink current / total propagation delay matching

1 Supports: External negative bias turn off
2 Supports: Desaturation (over current) protection
3 Supports: Active miller clamp protection (clamps VGS preventing accidental turn on during intended turn off.)
"V" Supports automotive qualification

EliteSiC Application Examples

  • 3 kW Power Supply
  • 7.2 kW On Board Charger
  • 650 V BLDC: 5 kW – 12 kW

Applications

  • Energy Infrastructure
  • Energy Storage
  • Li-ion Charger (up to ~15s)
  • Robotics
  • Industrial Drives & Pumps
  • Power Supplies

Topologies

  • PFC: Totem Pole
  • LLC: Half Bridge
  • SR: Full Bridge

Peak Efficiency

  • 94.2% at 115 VAC
  • 96.5% at 230 VAC

Applications

  • EV Charging
  • On Board Charger (OBC) Level 1/2
  • Power Supply

Topologies

  • PFC: 3-Phase Interleaved
  • LLC: Full Bridge

Peak Efficiency

  • 95.7% at 320 VOUT
  • 95% at 400 VOUT

Applications

  • Compressors
  • Pumps
  • Robotics
  • Industrial Drives

Additional Resources

Webinar: Pairing Gate Drive to EliteSiC

Every silicon carbide switch requires a gate driver. This webinar from Industry Tech Days 2023 provides an easy-to-use matrix for selecting the correct gate driver for your silicon carbide applications.

Webinar: Fast EV Charging with onsemi

Explore the 25 kW silicon carbide (SiC) based DC fast charging reference design from onsemi. The two stage PFC + DC-DC charger exhibits improved efficiency, decreased charge time, and reduced system size.