CISSOID introduces a three-phase silicon carbide MOSFET smart power module for electric vehicles

     CISSOID announced its continued commitment to address the challenges of the automotive and industrial markets with the launch of a three-phase Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFET Smart Power Module (IPM) platform for electric vehicles. This new smart power module technology provides an all-in-one solution that integrates a three-phase water-cooled silicon carbide MOSFET module with a built-in gate driver.

     This new scalable platform simultaneously optimizes the electrical, mechanical and thermal design of the power switch and its critical control, which can help accelerate time to market for electric vehicle (EV) Oems and motor manufacturers willing to quickly adopt silicon carbon-based inverters for more efficient and concise motor drives.

     The first product in this scalable platform is a three-phase 1200V/450A Silicon carbide MOSFET smart power module with a low on-loss characteristic with an on-resistance of 3.25 milliohm (mOhm) and a low switching loss characteristic with on-off and off-off energies of 8.3mJ and 11.2mJ, respectively, at 600V/300A. It reduces losses by at least three times compared to the most advanced IGBT power modules. The new module is water-cooled via a lightweight aluminum-silicon carbide (AlSiC) pin fin base plate with a thermal resistance of 0.15°C/W to the fluid. The smart power module can withstand isolation voltages up to 3600V (50Hz, 1 minute withstand voltage test).

     The built-in gate driver includes three on-board isolated power supplies (one per phase) that deliver up to 5W of power per phase, making it easy to drive power modules with frequencies up to 25KHz at ambient temperatures up to 125°C. Peak gate current up to 10A and high dV/dt (> 50KV/µs) immunity enables fast switching and low switching loss of the power module. Protection features such as undervoltage lock (UVLO), Active Miller Clamp (AMC), desaturation detection and soft shutdown (SSD) are also available to ensure that the power module can be safely driven and provide reliable protection in the event of failure.

     "Developing and optimizing fast-switching silicon carbide power modules and driving them reliably remains a challenge," said Dave Hutton, CEO of CISSOID. "This new silicon carbide smart power module is the result of many years of development in power modules and gate drivers, resulting from our close collaboration with leaders in the automotive and transportation sectors. We are pleased to provide the first smart power module samples to early adopters of silicon carbide devices to support the automotive industry's transition to efficient electric vehicle solutions."