dVDS/dt Sensing Based Multi-Level Active Gate Driver IC for SiC MOSFETs

Min-Sik Kim; Jong-Hun Kim; Myeong-Ho Kim; Dong-Chan Lee; Geon Kim; Se-Un Shin

doi:10.23075/jicas.2025.11.4.004

Min-Sik Kim Pohang University of Science and Technology
Jong-Hun Kim Pohang University of Science and Technology
Myeong-Ho Kim Pohang University of Science and Technology
Dong-Chan Lee Pohang University of Science and Technology
Geon Kim kgeon@postech.ac.kr
Se-Un Shin Pohang University of Science and Technology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23075/jicas.2025.11.4.004

Keywords: Active gate driver (AGD), false turn-on, Miller plateau, silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET, voltage spike

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs are widely used in power electronics to achieve higher power density and efficiency. However, as switching speeds increase to enable high-density systems, issues such as voltage overshoot, false turn-on, electromagnetic interference (EMI) arise, degrading system performance and reliability. This paper proposes a multi-level active gate driver (AGD) IC based on Miller plateau detection to improve the switching characteristics of SiC MOSFETs. The switching performance of SiC MOSFETs using the proposed gate driver IC is validated through simulations in Cadence Virtuoso. During turn-on and turn-off events, the proposed AGD shows a 5% and 4% increase in ringing magnitude compared to a conventional gate driver IC, respectively, but improves the switching speed by 18% and 21%, demonstrating a better trade-off.