Computer Aided Design Platform for Silicon Carbide Power Electronics

Silicon Carbide (SiC) electronics has the potential for revolutionizing the high temperature high power electronics industry. There is a strong need for tools and models for circuit design using the new SiC power devices that are coming to market. Our work in this project will focus on developing analytical models for the newly commercially available SiC power MOSFETs that will then be used for design of efficient power converter circuits. We will extend our strong background work on developing complex device models for SiC power MOSFETs to analytical SPICE-type models that capture the unique physics of SiC devices, while at the same time can be used to simulate the electrical and thermal performance of a complex power converter circuit. The first phase of this project will focus on detailed measurements of the SiC power devices, developing SPICE models for the DC and transient behavior, and testing of key circuits for model verification and calibration. This effort will lead in to a more comprehensive Phase II work in which we will focus on coupled electro-thermal modeling and development of a SiC power system computer aided design (CAD) tool.