Influence of an Emitter Sense Pin on the Switching Behavior of SiC BJTs in Standard Discrete Housings

摘要

Since fast switching silicon carbide (SiC) devices come usually in "traditional" standard packages, i.e. the TO-220-3L or the TO-247-3L, their full potential cannot be utilized. One of the main disadvantages of these packages is the common stray inductance shared by the load and the driving loop. This can be remedied by using a sense pin or Kelvin contact. Consequently, the switching speed should increase and, hence, the switching losses decrease. In this work, the influence of different packages with and without sense pin on the switching behavior of fast switching SiC BJTs is investigated.