Hybrid Si/SiC Switches: A Review of Control Objectives, Gate Driving Approaches and Packaging Solutions

Hybrid silicon (Si)/silicon carbide (SiC) switches are gaining increased attention for designing high-efficiency and high-power density energy conversion systems. They offer very good conduction and switching power loss performance compared to using only Si insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) or SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) devices as a result of combining the best properties of both devices. Several Si/SiC gate control strategies, gate driving approaches, and packaging considerations have been proposed in the literature. This article presents a comprehensive review and performance comparison of different Si/SiC gate control strategies, gate driver solutions, and packaging approaches that are already proposed in the literature. In addition, it aims to provide a general guideline for selecting the appropriate Si/SiC gate control approach that is suitable for different applications considering several Si/SiC switch design properties. It also aims to establish a general metrics for evaluating the performance of different Si/SiC gate driver solutions that are proposed in the literature in order to help the designer choose a suitable gate driver solution for different applications. Moreover, it highlights future research and development needs of hybrid Si/SiC switches in terms of gate control techniques, gate driver approaches, and packaging solutions in order to achieve further performance improvements and fully exploit their benefits.