Comparison of conventional and cascode drive of SiC BJTs

Abstract

This study compares simple conventional and cascode driver circuits for the SiC bipolar junction transistor (BJT). A low-voltage silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor is used in the emitter of the BJT to realise the cascode variant. The circuits are experimentally evaluated when switching a current of 2.5 A and a voltage of 600 V in a buck converter.

Keywords

• driver circuits
• silicon compounds
• wide band gap semiconductors
• bipolar transistor circuits
• MOSFET circuits
• SiC
• voltage 600.0 V
• current 2.5 A
• buck converter
• bipolar junction transistor
• cascode variant
• low-voltage silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor
• BJT
• cascode driver circuits
• simple conventional driver circuits