Due to the superior characteristics compared to its silicon (Si) counterpart, the wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor enables next-generation power electronics systems with higher efficiency and higher power density. With higher blocking voltage available, WBG devices, especially the silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), have been widely explored in various medium-voltage (MV) applications in both industry and academia. However, due to the high di/dt and high dv/dt during the switching transient, potential overcurrent, overvoltage, and gate failure can greatly reduce the reliability of implementing SiC MOSFETs in an MV system. By utilizing the parasitic inductance between the Kelvin- and the power-source terminal, a short-circuit (SC) and overload (OL) dual-protection scheme is proposed for overcurrent protection. A full design procedure and reliability analysis are given for SC circuit design. A novel OL circuit is proposed to protect OL faults at the gate-driver level. The protection procedure can detect an SC fault within 50 nanoseconds and protect the device within 1.1 microsecond. The proposed method is a simple and effective solution for the potential overcurrent problem of the SiC MOSFET. For SiC MOSFETs in series-connection, the unbalanced voltages can result in system failure due to device breakdown or unbalanced thermal stresses. By injecting current during the turn-off transient, an active dv/dt control method is used for voltage balancing. A 6 kV phase-leg using eight 1.7 kV SiC MOSFETs in series-connection has been tested with voltage balanced accurately. Modeling of the stacked SiC MOSFET with active dv/dt control is also done to summarize the design methodology for an effective and stable system. This method provides a low-loss and compact solution for overvoltage problems when MV SiC MOSFETs are connected in series. Furthermore, a scalable auxiliary power network is proposed to prevent gate failure caused by unstable gate voltage or EMI interference. The two-stage auxiliary power network (APN) architecture includes a wireless power transfer (WPT) converter supplied by a grounded low voltage dc bus, a high step-down-ratio (HSD) converter powered from dc-link capacitors, and a battery-based mini-UPS backup power supply. The auxiliary-power-only pre-charge and discharge circuits are also designed for a 6 kV power electronics building block (PEBB). The proposed architecture provides a general solution of a scalable and reliable auxiliary power network for the SiC-MOSFET-based MV converter. For the WPT converter, a multi-objective optimization on efficiency, EMI mitigation, and high voltage insulation capability have been proposed. Specifically, a series-series-CL topology is proposed for the WPT converter. With the optimization and new topology, a 120 W, 48 V to 48 V WPT converter has been tested to be a reliable part of the auxiliary power network. For the HSD converter, a novel unidirectional voltage-balancing circuit is proposed and connected in an interleaved manner, which provides a fully modular and scalable solution. A ``linear regulator + buck" solution is proposed to be an integrated on-board auxiliary power supply. A 6 kV to 45 V, 100 W converter prototype is built and tested to be another critical part of the auxiliary power network. / Doctor of Philosophy / The wide bandgap semiconductor enables next-generation power electronics systems with higher efficiency and higher power density which will reduce the space, weight, and cost for power supply and conversion systems, especially for renewable energy. However, by pushing the system voltage level higher to medium-voltage of tens of kilovolts, although the system has higher efficiency and simpler control, the reliability drops. This dissertation, therefore, focusing on solving the possible overcurrent, overvoltage, and gate failure issues of the power electronics system that is caused by the high voltage and high electromagnetic interference environment. By utilizing the inductance of the device, a dual-protection method is proposed to prevent the overcurrent problem. The overcurrent fault can be detected within tens of nanoseconds so that the device will not be destroyed because of the huge fault current. When multiple devices are connected in series to hold higher voltage, the voltage sharing between different devices becomes another issue. The proposed modeling and control method for series-connected devices can balance the shared voltage, and make the control system stable so that no overvoltage problem will happen due to the non-evenly distributed voltages. Besides the possible overcurrent and overvoltage problems, losing control of the devices due to the unreliable auxiliary power supply is another issue. This dissertation proposed a scalable auxiliary power network with high efficiency, high immunity to electromagnetic interference, and high reliability. In this network, a wireless power transfer converter is designed to provide enough insulation and isolation capability, while a switched capacitor converter is designed to transfer voltage from several kilovolts to tens of volts. With the proposed overcurrent protection method, voltage sharing control, and reliable auxiliary power network, systems utilizing medium-voltage wide-bandgap semiconductor will have higher reliability to be implemented for different applications.

To support the study of potential utilization of the emerging silicon carbide (SiC) devices, two SiC active switches, namely 1.2 kV, 5 A SiC JFET manufactured by SiCED, and 1.2 kV, 20 A SiC MOSFET by CREE, have been investigated systematically in this thesis. The static and switching characteristics of the two switches have firstly been characterized to get the basic device information. Specific issues in the respective characterization process have been explored and discussed. Many of the characterization procedures presented are generic, so that they can be applied to the study of any future SiC unipolar active switches. Based on the characterization data, different modeling procedures have also been introduced for the two SiC devices. Considerations and measures about model improvement have been investigated and discussed, such as predicting the MOSFET transfer characteristics under high drain-source bias from switching waveforms. Both models have been verified by comparing simulation waveforms with the experimental results. imitations of each model have been explained as well. In order to capture the parasitic ringing in the very fast switching transients, a modeling methodology has also been proposed considering the circuit parasitics, with which a device-package combined simulation can be conducted to reproduce the detailed switching waveforms during the commutation process. This simulation, however, is inadequate to provide deep insights into the physics behind the ringing. Therefore a parametric study has also been conducted about the influence of parasitic impedances on the device's high-speed switching behavior. The main contributors to the parasitic oscillations have been identified to be the switching loop inductance and the device output junction capacitances. The effects of different parasitic components on the device stresses, switching energies, as well as electromagnetic interference (EMI) have all been thoroughly analyzed, whose results exhibit that the parasitic ringing fundamentally does not increase the switching loss but worsens the device stresses and EMI radiation. Based on the parametric study results, this thesis finally compares the difference of SiC JFET and MOSFET in their respective switching behavior, comes up with the concept of device switching speed limit under circuit parasitics, and establishes a general design guideline for high-speed switching circuits on device selection and layout optimization. / Master of Science

This thesis presents the development of a double-side cooled 3.3 kV, 100 A SiC MOSFET phase-leg power module for heavy-duty traction applications. Parasitic extraction and thermal simulations of the module showed a parasitic inductance of 2.89 nH and junction temperature of 108.3 °C at a heat flux of 156 W/cm² under a typical water-cooling condition. Electric field simulations identified high electric field stress at the module's outer surface edges exposed to air, posing a risk for partial discharge. To mitigate this risk, a solution that involves covering the critical point in an epoxy was proposed, analyzed, and validated through partial discharge inception voltage tests. Steps for fabricating the module are presented. Static electrical characterization of the fabricated module showed an average on-resistance of 31 mΩ and an average leakage current of 356 nA at VDS of 3 kV, which are similar to those of the unpackaged devices. The module with a double-side cooling design achieved an exceptional power density of 116.6 kW/cm³, more than twice that of any single-side cooled 3.3 kV SiC module. This makes it highly suitable for next-generation electric transportation systems that require high power density and efficient thermal management, such as electric trucks, railways, and eVTOL aircraft. / Master of Science / This thesis presents the development of a highly efficient and compact power module designed for electric vehicles and other high power applications. By utilizing advanced silicon carbide technology and double-side cooling structure, the module achieves outstanding performance, making it ideal for heavy-duty uses such as electric trucks, railways, and eVTOL aircraft. The module operates at 3.3 kV and 100 A, with low electrical losses and excellent thermal management. Extensive simulations and testing demonstrated that the module significantly reduced unwanted electrical effects and maintained a stable temperature under high power conditions. An epoxy coating was applied to critical areas to prevent electrical discharge, enhancing the module's reliability. The fabrication process incorporated packaging techniques like silver-sintering for attaching the semiconductor chips and other components, resulting in strong and reliable connections. Static tests confirmed that the electrical performance of the packaged power module maintained consistently high efficiency compared with the bare chips. Overall, this double-side cooled power module offers more than twice the power density of traditional designs, paving the way for the development of future electric vehicle traction systems that require high power density and efficient cooling.

This thesis provides insight into state-of-the-art 1.2 kV silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor transistors, including the MOSFET, BJT, SJT, and normally-on and normally-off JFETs. Both commercial and sample devices from the semiconductor industry's well-known manufacturers were evaluated in this study. These manufacturers include: Cree Inc., ROHM Semiconductor, General Electric, Fairchild Semiconductor, GeneSiC Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies, and SemiSouth Laboratories. To carry out this work, static characterization of each device was performed from 25 ºC to 200 ºC. Dynamic characterization was also conducted through double-pulse tests. Accordingly, this thesis describes the experimental setup used and the different measurements conducted, which comprise: threshold voltage, transconductance, current gain, specific on-resistance, parasitic capacitances, internal gate resistance, and the turn on and turn off switching times and energies. For the latter, the driving method used for each device is described in detail. Furthermore, for the devices that require on-state dc currents, driving losses are taken into consideration. While all of the SiC transistors characterized in this thesis demonstrated low specific on-resistances, the SiC BJT showed the lowest, with Fairchild's FSICBH057A120 SiC BJT having 3.6 mΩ•cm2 (using die area) at 25 ºC. However, the on-resistance of GE's SiC MOSFET proved to have the smallest temperature dependency, increasing by only 59 % from 25 ºC to 200 ºC. From the dynamic characterization, it was shown that Cree's C2M0080120D second generation SiC MOSFET achieved dv/dt rates of 57 V/ns. The SiC MOSFETs also featured low turn off switching energy losses, which were typically less than 70 µJ at 600 V bus voltage and 20 A load current. / Master of Science

Over the past two decades, power consumption has increased exponentially worldwide, posing new challenges to power grids to meet the load requirements. With this growing power demand, the need for efficient high-density medium-voltage (MV) power converters has increased to support flexible power distribution grids. The modular multilevel converters (MMC) became the most typical MV power converters in applications from 2010. This topology has many advantages, such as voltage scalability, excellent output performance, and low voltage ratings for switching devices. However, without the excellent reliability of the MMC, applications cannot reap these benefits. The MMC topology comprises several series-connected submodules (typically a half-bridge or a full-bridge inverter). As a result of increased switching devices, the converter becomes vulnerable since a single device fault can disrupt the whole converter operation. Therefore, fault-tolerant strategies to replace faulty SM with a redundant SM are developed using additional bypass switches. Conventionally TRIACs and vacuum switches are employed as bypass switches that operate in the range of 2-10 microseconds. Despite having performance advantages, MMCs are still not fully employed in aerospace and naval industries due to their enormous size. Many Power Electronics Building Blocks (PEBB) are proposed, with size optimization, as submodules for modular converters. The PEBB1000, a 1000 V- PEBB proposed by Dr. Jun Wang, achieved a significant size reduction of 80% with a novel switching cycle control (SCC) scheme. This novel control scheme requires high switching frequency and high di/dt-currents for MMC operation. Due to di/dt-rate limitations, TRIAC-based switch cannot perform bypass operation. Therefore, research work has been conducted on bypass switches for PEBB1000 using wide-bandgap SiC devices. This thesis presents the design of a SiC MOSFET-based bypass switch for PEBB1000 in MMC application. A detailed fault case analysis is presented to show the feasibility of the bypass operation for 90% PEBB-level faults. Significant variations in PEBB1000 bypass requirements are observed through SCC-based MMC simulations. Accordingly, a 1700 V, 100 A bypass switch has been designed using the anti-series topology of MOSFETs. Various specifications, such as 142 nanoseconds operation time, 500 nanoseconds bypass commutation time, and 277A transient current conduction capability, are validated through practical tests. Results prove that SiC-MOSFETs work better than TRIACs in high di/dt-current conduction and operation times. For future work, false-triggering endurance has to be analyzed for 1000 V switching voltage. / Master of Science / When a building is on fire, the safety of people inside depends on the timely arrival of the fire rescue departments. Similarly, for an electrical fault, the safety of electrical systems depends on fast and secure fault protection devices. This thesis presents work on one such fault-protection device used in the power distribution grid: solid-state bypass switch. Distribution grids supply power majorly to households and industries at the city or state level. They employ medium-voltage (MV) converters to step down the voltages to meet the distribution requirements. In MV converters, several low-voltage modules are connected in series to achieve the high-voltage power conversion. When a fault occurs at one of the low-voltage modules in MV converters, power flow gets disrupted due to a series connection like a chain. Therefore, bypass switches are connected in parallel to low-voltage modules for an alternate power flow path. Conventionally used bypass switches have 2-10 microseconds operation time. Recent advancements in semiconductor devices, SiC MOSFETs, allow operation times less than one microsecond. Therefore, research work has been conducted on bypass switches using SiC MOSFETs. Finally, the SiC-MOSFET based bypass switch is built and tested according to converter requirements. Results proved that the designed switch operates in 142 nanoseconds, ten times faster than a conventional switch.

Numerous power electronics building blocks (PEBB) based power conversion systems have been developed to explore modular design, scalable voltage and current ratings, low-cost operations, etc. This paper further extends the modular concept from the power stage to the control system. The communication network in SiC-based modular power converters is becoming significant for distributed control architecture, with the requirements of tight synchronization and low latency. The influence of the synchronization accuracy on harmonics under the phase-shifted carrier pulse width modulation (PSC-PWM) is evaluated. When the synchronization is accurate, the influence of an increase in harmonics can be ignored. Thus, a synchronous distributed control and communication protocol with well-performed synchronization of 25 ns accuracy is proposed and verified for a 120 kHz SiC-based impedance measurement unit (IMU) with cascaded H-bridge PEBBs. An improved synchronization method with additional analog circuits is further implemented and verified with sub-ns synchronization accuracy. / The power electronics building block (PEBB) concept is proposed for medium-voltage converter applications in order to realize the modular design of the power stage. Traditionally, the central control architecture is popular in converter systems. The voltage and current are sensed and then processed in one central controller. The control hardware interfaces and software have to be customized for a specified number of power cells, and the scalability of controller is lost. In stead, in the distributed control architecture, a local controller in each PEBB can communicate with the sensors, gate drivers, etc. A high-level controller collects the information from each PEBB and conducts the control algorithm. In this way, the design can be more modular, and the local controller can share the computation burden with the high-level controller, which is good for scalability. In such distributed control architecture, a synchronous communication system is required to transmit data and command between the high-level controller and local controllers. A power converter always requires a highly synchronized operation to turn on or turn off the devices. In this work, a synchronous communication protocol is proposed and experimentally validated on a SiC-based modular power converter.

Nowadays, major public concern is concentrated on reducing the usage of fossil fuels and reducing emissions of CO₂ by different energy advancement. Electric vehicle technology presents extremely effective way of reducing carbon emissions and paves the way of having sustainable and renewable energy future. In order to wear the cost of electric vehicles down, batteries have to be improved as well as higher power density and high reliability has to be achieved. This research work mainly focuses on achieving higher power density and higher reliability of the inverter stage by utilizing wide-bandgap SiC MOSFET semiconductor devices in electric vehicle application. In order to achieve higher reliability of the inverter stage, high bandwidth, high performance Rogowski coil switch current sensors are employed. These sensor were embedded on the PCB and integrated on the gate driver. High bandwidth switch current sensor measurement is used for fast short-circuit detection and protection of the SiC MOSFET semiconductor switches. Furthermore, comparison with conventional detection and protection method used in automotive IGBT applications is shown where novel protection showed superior performance. This thesis also shows principle of how to obtain phase currents of the system using Rogowski coil switch current sensor measurements. Digital reconstruction principle is employed to obtain the phase currents. Accurate and linear current sensor is achieved. By successfully realizing this integrated phase current measurement on the gate driver, elimination of the commercial current sensors from the system is possible. By eliminating existing phase current sensors, higher power density could be achieved. Sensor is evaluated in both continuous and discontinuous PWM schemes. / Master of Science / Together with renewable sources, electric vehicle will play an important role as a part of sustainable and renewable energy future by significantly reducing emissions of CO₂ into the atmosphere. In order to make electric cars more acceptable and accessible and make a significant impact on the environment, cost must be lowered down. To wear the cost of the electric vehicles down, powertrain of the car must be significantly improved and made smaller as well as lighter. This thesis mainly focuses on improving the reliability of the motor driving stage by implementing novel protection during fault periods such as short-circuit event. Furthermore, this novel protection allows current sensing that is crucial for motor control during normal operation periods. This will enable more compact motor driving stage since existing current sensing elements can be eliminated.

Nowadays high power density has become an emerging need for the medium-voltage (MV) high-power converters in applications of power distribution systems in urban areas and transportation carriers like ship, airplane, and so forth. The limited footprint or space resource cost such immensely high price that introducing expensive advanced equipment to save space becomes a cost-effective option. To this end, replacing conventional Si IGBT with the superior SiC MOSFET to elevate the power density of MV modular converters has been defined as the concentration of this research work. As the modular multilevel converter (MMC) is the most typical modular converter for high power applications, the research topic is narrowed down to study the SiC MOSFET-based MMC. Fundamentals of the MMC is firstly investigated by introducing a proposed state-space switching model, followed by unveiling all possible operation scenarios of the MMC. The lower-frequency energy fluctuation on passive components of the MMC is interpreted and prior-art approaches to overcome it are presented. By scrutinizing the converter's switching states, a new switching-cycle control (SCC) approach is proposed to balance the capacitor energy within one switching cycle is explored. An open-loop model-predictive method is leveraged to study the behavior of the SCC, and then a hybrid-current-mode (HCM) approach to realize the closed-loop SCC on hardware is proposed and verified in simulation. In order to achieve the hybrid-current-mode SCC (HCM-SCC), a high-performance Rogowski switch-current sensor (RSCS) is proposed and developed. As sensing the switching current is a critical necessity for HCM-SCC, the RSCS is designed to meet all the requirement for the control purposes. A PCB-embedded shielding design is proposed to improve the sensor accuracy under high dv/dt noises caused by the rapid switching transients of SiC MOSFET. The overall system and control validations have been conducted on a high-power MMC prototype. The basic unit of the MMC prototype is a SiC Power Electronics Building Block (PEBB) rated at 1 kV DC bus voltage. Owing to the proposed SCC, the PEBB development has achieved high power density with considerable reduction of passive component size. Finally, experimental results exhibit the excellent performance of the RSCS and the HCM-SCC. / Ph. D. / Electricity is the fastest-growing type of end-use energy consumption in the world, and its generation and usage trends are changing. Hence, the power electronics that control the flow and conversion of electrical energy are an important research area. As a typical example, the modular multilevel converter (MMC) is a popular voltage-source converter for high-voltage dc electric transmission systems (VSC-HVDC). The MMC features in excellent voltage scalability that fits various HVDC transmission projects. Though, the huge passive energy storage components of the MMC remains a hurdle to improve its power density. On the other hand, wide-bandgap (WBG) power semiconductors are enabling power electronics to meet higher power density and efficiency, and have thus begun appearing in commercial products, such as traction and solar inverters. Silicon-carbide metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (SiC MOSFET), as one type of WBG devices, is able to switch higher voltages faster and with lower losses than existing semiconductor technologies will drastically reduce the size, weight, and complexity of medium-voltage and high-voltage systems. However, these devices also bring new challenges for designers. The objective of this research work is to develop a new control approach that takes advantage of the merits of the SiC MOSFET to reduce the passive components of the MMC. In order to achieve that, a switching-state model of the MMC, a closed-loop hybrid-current-mode switching-cycle control (HCM-SCC) method, a Rogowski switch-current sensor (RSCS), and a SiC-based power electronics building block (PEBB) have been developed. Analytical and experimental results show that the new control approach is able to reduce the capacitance by 93%, inductance by 74%, and semiconductor losses by 11% at the same time, and thus to improve the power density of the MMC power stage by a factor of 23X.

Cette thèse présente l'étude et la réalisation d'un disjoncteur statique tout silicium et intelligent pouvant fonctionner à haute température (200°C) pour des applications de type DC basse et moyenne tensions. Plusieurs applications dans l’aéronautique, l’automobile et les transports ferroviaires poussent les composants à semi-conducteur de puissance à être utilisés à haute température. Cependant, les Si-IGBT et Si-CoolMOSTM actuellement commercialisés ont une température de jonction spécifiée et estimée à 150°C et quelque fois à 175°C. L’une des faiblesses des convertisseurs provient de la réduction du rendement avec l’augmentation de la température de jonction des composants à semiconducteur de puissance qui peut amener à leur destruction. La solution serait d’utiliser des composants grand-gap (SiC, GaN), qui autorisent un fonctionnement à une température de jonction plus élevée ;mais ces technologies en plein essor ont un coût relativement élevé. Une solution alternative serait de faire fonctionner des composants en silicium à une température de jonction voisine de 200°C afin de conserver l’un des principaux intérêts du silicium en termes de coût. Avant de commencer, le premier chapitre portera sur un état de l’art des différentes techniques de protection aussi bien mécanique que statique afin d’identifier les éléments essentiels pour la réalisation du circuit de protection. Les disjoncteurs hybrides seront aussi abordés afin de voir comment ceux-ci arrivent à combler les lacunes des disjoncteurs mécaniques et purement électroniques (statiques). A partir du chapitre précédent, un disjoncteur statique intelligent de faible puissance sera réalisé afin de mieux cerner les différentes difficultés qui sont liées à ce type de disjoncteur. Le disjoncteur statique sera réalisé à partir de fonction analogique de telle façon à ce qui soit autonome et bas cout. Il en ressort que les inductances parasites ainsi que la température des composants à base de semi-conducteurs ont un impact significatif lors de la coupure.Le chapitre III portera sur une analyse non exhaustive, vis-à-vis de la température, de différents types d’interrupteurs contrôlés à base de semi-conducteur de puissance en s’appuyant sur plusieurs caractérisations électriques (test de conduction, tension de seuil, etc) afin de sélectionner le type d’interrupteur de puissance qui sera utilisé pour le chapitre IV. Comme il sera démontré, les composants silicium à super jonction peuvent se rapprocher du comportement des composants à base de carbure de silicium pour les basses puissances. Un disjoncteur statique 400V/63A (courant de court-circuit prédictible de 5kA) sera étudié et 4développé afin de mettre en pratique ce qui a été précédemment acquis et pour montrer la compétitivité du silicium pour cette gamme de puissance. / This thesis presents a study about a smart solid state circuit breaker which can work at 200°C forlow and medium voltage continuous applications. Some applications in aeronautics, automotive,railways, petroleum extraction push power semiconductor devices to operate at high junctiontemperature. However, current commercially available Si-IGBT and Si-CoolMOS have basically amaximum junction temperature specified and rated at 150°C and even 175°C. Indeed, the main problemin conventional DC-DC converters is the switching losses of power semiconductor devices (linked to thetemperature influence on carrier lifetime, on-state voltage, on-resistance and leakage current) whichdrastically increase with the temperature rise and may drive to the device failure. Then, the use of wideband gap semiconductor like SiC or GaN devices allows higher junction temperature operation (intheory about 500°C) and higher integration (smaller heatsink, higher switching frequency, smallconverter), but are still under development and are expensive technologies. In order to keep theadvantage of low cost silicon devices, a solution is to investigate the feasibility to operate such devicesat junction temperature up to 200°C.Before starting the first starting chapter is a stat of the art of protectives circuit technics as well asmechanics as statics in order to identify essentials elements to develop the protective circuit. Hybridprotective circuits are approached too.From the precedent chapter, a smart and low power solid state circuit breaker is realized to identifyproblems which are linked with this type of circuit breaker. Solid state circuit breaker is developed withanalog components in a way that is autonomous and low cost. It’s follow that stray inductance andtemperature have an important impact when a default occurs.Chapter III give an analyze on different silicon power semiconductor dice towards temperature5relying on statics and dynamics characteristics in order to find the best silicon power switch which beused in the chapter IV. It has been shown that super junction MOSFET has the same behavior at lowpower than silicon carbide MOSFET.Solid state circuit breaker (400V/63A) has been studied and developed, in order to use all theknowledge previously acquired and to show the competitively of the silicon for this power range.

The master’s thesis deals with design and realization of three-phase inverter for experimental high speed asynchronous motor with a mechanical power of 6 kW. The thesis deals with the design of the individual components of the DC link. The thesis describes the selection of suitable capacitors in the DC link. There is also a complete simulation of the inverter in the Matlab Simulink program. Part of the thesis is also the design and realization of printed circuit boards of this inverter.