SiC and GaN Devices With Cryogenic Cooling
Abstract
This article presents the cryogenically cooled application for wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices. Characteristics of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) at cryogenic temperatures are illustrated. SiC MOSFETs exhibit increased on-state resistance and slower switching speed at cryogenic temperatures. However, cryogenic cooling provides low ambient temperature environment and thus enables the SiC converter to operate at lower junction temperature to achieve higher efficiency compared to room temperature cooling. A cryogenically cooled MW-level SiC inverter prototype is developed and demonstrated the feasibility of operating high-power SiC converter with cryogenic cooling. GaN HEMTs exhibit more than five times on-state resistance reduction and faster switching speed at cryogenic temperatures which makes GaN HEMTs an excellent candidate for cryogenic power electronics applications. The significantly reduced on-state resistance of GaN devices provides the possibility to operate them at a current level much higher than rated current at cryogenic temperatures. A GaN double pulse test (DPT) circuit is constructed and demonstrated that GaN HEMTs can operate at nearly four times of rated current at cryogenic temperatures. Challenges of utilizing WBG device with cryogenic cooling are discussed and summarized.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Electricity (OE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1817397
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 2; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2644-1314
- Publisher:
- IEEE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 42 ENGINEERING; Wide bandgap device; SiC MOSFET; GaN HEMT; cryogenic temperature; cryogenically-cooled converter; device characterization; MW-level converter
Citation Formats
Chen, Ruirui, and Wang, Fei Fred. SiC and GaN Devices With Cryogenic Cooling. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.1109/ojpel.2021.3075061.
Chen, Ruirui, & Wang, Fei Fred. SiC and GaN Devices With Cryogenic Cooling. United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/ojpel.2021.3075061
Chen, Ruirui, and Wang, Fei Fred. Thu .
"SiC and GaN Devices With Cryogenic Cooling". United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/ojpel.2021.3075061. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1817397.
@article{osti_1817397,
title = {SiC and GaN Devices With Cryogenic Cooling},
author = {Chen, Ruirui and Wang, Fei Fred},
abstractNote = {This article presents the cryogenically cooled application for wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices. Characteristics of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) at cryogenic temperatures are illustrated. SiC MOSFETs exhibit increased on-state resistance and slower switching speed at cryogenic temperatures. However, cryogenic cooling provides low ambient temperature environment and thus enables the SiC converter to operate at lower junction temperature to achieve higher efficiency compared to room temperature cooling. A cryogenically cooled MW-level SiC inverter prototype is developed and demonstrated the feasibility of operating high-power SiC converter with cryogenic cooling. GaN HEMTs exhibit more than five times on-state resistance reduction and faster switching speed at cryogenic temperatures which makes GaN HEMTs an excellent candidate for cryogenic power electronics applications. The significantly reduced on-state resistance of GaN devices provides the possibility to operate them at a current level much higher than rated current at cryogenic temperatures. A GaN double pulse test (DPT) circuit is constructed and demonstrated that GaN HEMTs can operate at nearly four times of rated current at cryogenic temperatures. Challenges of utilizing WBG device with cryogenic cooling are discussed and summarized.},
doi = {10.1109/ojpel.2021.3075061},
journal = {IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics},
number = 1,
volume = 2,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Apr 22 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Thu Apr 22 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
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