Generalized Test Bed for High-Voltage, High-Power SiC Device Characterization

Published

October 1, 2006

Author(s)

David W. Berning, Allen R. Hefner Jr., J J. Rodriguez, Colleen E. Hood, Angel Rivera

Abstract

A generalized 25 kV test bed developed to characterize high-voltage, high-power SiC devices is described. The test bed features containment of all high voltage circuits and the device under test (DUT) within a clear plastic interlocked safety box. A fast low-voltage 750 watt linear amplifier/power supply provides the basic test power for the DUT. A power converter operating at 250 kHz provides high-speed translation of the low-voltage amplifier output in order to provide up to 25 kV dc or 25 kV voltage transitions in as little as 30 ?s. The output from the converter is used as the high voltage power supply for both the pulsed curve tracer (parametric static measurements) and the continuous high voltage power supply for inductive/resistive switching. The test bed includes inductors, clamping capacitors, and high voltage resistive load modules for resistive and inductive load switching. An additional reconfigurable section of the test bed with plug-in current limiting and current sense resistors is used for parametric (curve tracer) device characterization. A flexible curve tracer user interface is used to vary gate step and drain sweep parameters as well as the pulse width, rise time, and measurement interval. The DUT is mounted on a 20 kV voltage-isolated temperature-controlled heat sink. Finally, several example measurements of SiC devices using the test bed are shown.

Proceedings Title

Proc., IEEE Industrial Applications Society Meeting

Conference Dates

October 9-12, 2006

Conference Location

Tampa, FL, USA

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Curve tracer, DUT, high power, high voltage MOSFET, inductive load switching, parametric testing, power conversion, semiconductor device characterization., SiC

Citation

Berning, D. , Hefner Jr., A. , Rodriguez, J. , Hood, C. and Rivera, A. (2006), Generalized Test Bed for High-Voltage, High-Power SiC Device Characterization, Proc., IEEE Industrial Applications Society Meeting, Tampa, FL, USA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=32317 (Accessed September 18, 2024)