A Self-Regulating Active Gate Driver for SiC MOSFET Switching Loss Optimization

This paper presents a self-regulating active gate driver (AGD) for Silicon Carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). The proposed AGD aims to reduce switching loss and voltage overshoot by incorporating an auxiliary driving branch. The circuit of the proposed AGD and its operation principles are analyzed based on the switching transition. Additionally, the time point selections for driving modes are optimized with a quasi-close-loop methodology to simplify the driving circuit and alleviate the computational burden on the controller. The signal for the auxiliary branch is optimized according to the sampled DC voltage and output current through an offline table. The proposed AGD is experimentally verified on a dual pulse test circuit and a full-bridge inverter. The proposed AGD can significantly reduce voltage spikes overshoot by 26.8%. Additionally, the switching loss can be decreased compared to the conventional gate driver.