High switching speeds and loss reduction: prospects with Si, SiC and GaN and limitations at device, packing and application level

摘要

The prospect of increasing the switching frequency without sacrificing efficiency is seen in many fields of application as a promising development for the current decade. This will be mainly achieved through new device technologies, not only relying on WBG materials but also on silicon, capable of operating at much faster switching speeds and thus with lower losses. Several enhancements in the field of packing and montage are nevertheless still necessary in order to fully exploit the referred power devices' capabilities. In addition to this, other issues at application level concerning EMI, driving and also the influence of transient speed at inductor losses still need to be addressed. This paper will present an overview of these issues based on experimental results and literature research in order to assert future development trends.