Waveform Profiling as a Tool for Suppressing the Influence of Parasitic Elements

In this paper the effectiveness of waveform shaping for improving the performance of Silicon Carbide MOSFET based power converters is considered.
Simulations of a basic converter are used to test the performance of a selection of waveform shapes proposed by existing works under idealised conditions, investigating how different waveform shapes can be used to help mitigate the effect of parasitic elements.
A simple voltage source based gate drive circuit for Silicon Carbide MOSFETs is presented which is then used for testing the feasibility of achieving shaped switching waveforms through manipulation of the gate of the switching device. It is found that it is possible to achieve shaping through the gate terminal of the device and some of the predicted performance improvement.
Finally, this paper investigates how the excitation used at the gate terminal of the switching device must be varied for differing converter conditions such as voltage and current. It is found that in general, as the commutated current increases, the Miller plateau region voltage also increases.