A cost-efficient Current-Source Gate Driver for SiC MOSFET Module and its Comparison with Voltage-Source Gate Driver

A current-source gate driver (CSG) is considered as a candidate to improve the switching performance of Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFET compared with a SiC MOSFET powered by a voltage-source gate driver (VSG). Various CSG circuits have been proposed to promote the switching transients by generating a constant gate current. However, those circuits are normally designed with complicated structures and high costs due to extra components and control signals. This paper proposes a cost-efficient approach to adjust the gate current of the conventional VSG which can improve its dynamic performance of the devices. Following the comparison analysis of CSG and VSG, a simple-structure circuit is introduced to replace the gate resistor in the conventional VSG. This circuit transforms that the gate current shows constant levels during the switching transients, which exhibits current-source characteristics. Simulation and experimental studies have been undertaken to verify the effectiveness of the proposed circuit. The results show that the turn-on switching time and oscillation can be reduced using the proposed circuit compared with the conventional VSG and the proposed circuit is less hardware intensive compared to other CSGs.