Technical Paper
Opportunity and Challenges for SiC-Based HEV Traction Inverter Systems
2017-03-28
2017-01-1248
Due to global trends and government regulations for CO2 emission reduction, the automotive industry is actively working toward vehicle electrification to improve fuel efficiency and minimize tail-pipe pollutions. Silicon IGBTs and power diodes used in today’s HEV inverter systems are mature and reliable components, but have their limitation on energy losses. SiC, on the other hand, has potential to offer additional boost of efficiency for the HEV drive system. In recent years, commercial SiC MOSFETs have improved significantly in performance. However, reliability concerns and high prices still limit their overall competitiveness against silicon. Ford Motor Company has partnered with semiconductor manufacturers to evaluate SiC products for automotive applications. In this study, 900V SiC MOSFET modules from Wolfspeed are tested and compared with an 800V silicon IGBT module of similar power handling capability.
