Soft-switching - The Key to High Power WBG Converters

This paper proposes that viable high-voltage high-power converters using wide band-gap SiC devices, will require the use of soft-switching, in particular zero-voltage switching techniques, if system parasitics and high switching speeds are to be managed. An easy to understand and use quantitative comparison of different approaches can help us with selection of specific technologies for given applications. This paper presents the limitations of current approaches, and proposes a new converter figure of merit (CFOM) as the basis for understanding the limitations of high power converters based on wide band-gap SiC devices, showing that soft-switching is the key.