Efficient base driver circuit for silicon carbide bipolar junction transistors

N. McNeill; B.H. Stark; S.J. Finney; D. Holliday; H. Dymond

Efficient base driver circuit for silicon carbide bipolar junction transistors

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Author(s): N. McNeill¹ ; B.H. Stark² ; S.J. Finney³ ; D. Holliday¹ ; H. Dymond²
- Affiliations: 1: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering , University of Strathclyde , Glasgow, Scotland , United Kingdom ;
  2: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering , University of Bristol , Bristol , United Kingdom ;
  3: School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh, Scotland , United Kingdom
Source: Volume 54, Issue 25, 13 December 2018, p. 1450 – 1452
DOI: 10.1049/el.2018.7057 , Print ISSN 0013-5194, Online ISSN 1350-911X

This is an open access article published by the IET under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

Received 14/09/2018, Published 01/11/2018

The silicon carbide bipolar junction transistor needs large transient currents supplied into and out of its base terminal for rapid switching. To realise this, it is normally desirable to have a base driver circuit supply rail at a high voltage. However, the device also needs a steady base current to hold it in the on-state. Supplying this current from a high-voltage source is inefficient. A circuit is presented that applies high transient base–emitter voltages, but with low driver circuit power consumption.

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Efficient base driver circuit for silicon carbide bipolar junction transistors

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