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The demands for high-performance power electronics systems are rapidly surpassing the power density, efficiency, and reliability limitations defined by the intrinsic properties of silicon (Si)-based semiconductors. The advantages of silicon carbide (SiC) are well known, including high temperature operation, high voltage blocking capability, high speed switching, and high energy efficiency. These advantages, however, are severely limited by conventional power packages, particularly at temperatures higher than 175°C and ≻100 kHz switching speeds. Here, APEI, Inc., presents the design process and testing data of its newly developed high performance HT-2000 SiC power module for extreme environment systems and applications.

This paper presents the results of a silicon-carbide-based 300V 5 kW fully functional three-phase inverter module operating at high temperatures and device junctions up to 200°C. Each phase power module employs eight SemiSouth 100 mΩ/1200V SiC JFETs (SJEP120R100) in parallel per switch position. The paper will highlight both the electrical and the thermo-mechanical design. Experimental results validating the overall design will also be discussed. The core of the electrical design was to take advantage of the low input capacitance, high switching frequency (50 kHz) and high temperature capability of the SiC JFET in order to obtain a high power density inverter. Since SemiSouth's SiC JFET is a relatively new device, computer models are not currently available from the manufacturer, which presents a hurdle during the design stage. In order to produce reliable performance predictions, the team has focused on developing a model for the SiC JFETs ultimately used.

This paper describes a SiC based stackable DC/DC converter system capable of operating at high temperature. The system is capable of fault tolerance and complex power management. These functions require complex control; however, high temperature operation typically precludes the use of conventional control circuitries. Therefore, the present work seeks to develop an advanced digital controller capable of high temperature operation. This is accomplished by utilizing the currently available suite of High-Temperature-Silicon-on-Insulator(HTSOI) technologies.