A New Complete Condition Monitoring Method for SiC Power MOSFETs
Abstract
This article proposes a new complete condition monitoring method which can independently monitor both the threshold voltage drift and the packaging degradation accurately by monitoring only the reverse body diode voltage drop at different gate bias levels. The SiC MOSFETs are aged through an accelerated aging method and the corresponding changes in electrical parameters are periodically measured to assess their correlation with the state of the device's health. It has been revealed that the on-state resistance reveals the combination of gate oxide and package-related degradation while the threshold voltage mainly depicts gate oxide-related issues. Unlike these two parameters, the body diode voltage drop is found to independently indicate the state of device health both for package and gate oxide. This is caused by a unique secondary conduction mode of SiC MOSFETs in third-quadrant operation which is clearly disclosed with transition boundaries by a proposed body diode transfer characterization curve. In order to have a detailed condition information of the device with a simple circuit, monitoring the reverse body diode voltage drop at 0 and -5 V gate bias is proposed. The proposed condition monitoring method is implemented on a gate drive circuit and experimental results are given for two artificially degraded devices. The experimental results confirm that the proposed method can independently monitor both the gate oxide and packaging degradations accurately by monitoring a single precursor parameter. The proposed method can be integrated into the gate driver or converter itself to monitor SiC devices.
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SiC MOSFET conducts only through the PiN diode at negative gate-source voltages.
“This is because SiC MOSFET conducts only through PiN diode at negative gatesource voltages [68].”
From AC Power Cycling Test Setup and Condition Monitoring Tools for SiC-Based Traction Inverters (2023) · cites this paper as [68]
VSD is gate oxide degradation dependent.
“Even though VSD is gate oxide degradation dependent”
From AC Power Cycling Test Setup and Condition Monitoring Tools for SiC-Based Traction Inverters (2023) · cites this paper as [68]
Applying a negative gate-source voltage eliminates the gate oxide effect on VSD.
“by applying a negative gate-source voltage to the device gate oxide effect is eliminated.”
From AC Power Cycling Test Setup and Condition Monitoring Tools for SiC-Based Traction Inverters (2023) · cites this paper as [68]
Package degradation at lower currents does not affect the body diode voltage.
“However, the package degradation at lower currents does not affect the body diode voltage.”
From AC Power Cycling Test Setup and Condition Monitoring Tools for SiC-Based Traction Inverters (2023) · cites this paper as [68]
The package degradation effect on the body diode is significant at high currents.
“The package degradation effect on the body diode is significant at high currents.”
From AC Power Cycling Test Setup and Condition Monitoring Tools for SiC-Based Traction Inverters (2023) · cites this paper as [68]
Body diode voltage at lower current is highly sensitive and linear yet hard to implement online.
“The body diode voltage at lower current is highly sensitive and linear yet hard to implement online.”
From AC Power Cycling Test Setup and Condition Monitoring Tools for SiC-Based Traction Inverters (2023) · cites this paper as [68]
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“This is because SiC MOSFET conducts only through PiN diode at negative gate-source voltages [68].”
BackgroundSelf-citation
- Authors
- Ugur, E., Xu, C., Yang, F., Pu, S., & Akin, B.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Dallas (US)
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
- Published
- 2021-02
- Volume
- 68
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 1654-1664
- ISSN
- 0278-0046 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-9948
- OpenAlex
- W3004758912
- Cited by
- 126
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 3.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1454311)
- Semiconductor Research Corporation (2712.026)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Silicon Carbide Semiconductor Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Radiation Effects in Electronics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Semiconductor materials and devices
- Keywords
- SiC power MOSFETs, condition monitoring, threshold voltage shift, gate oxide degradation, accelerated aging, on-resistance, gate bias, gate driver
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