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Half-bridge circuits employing normally on switches and methods of preventing unintended current flow therein

A switch and circuit technology, applied in the direction of circuits, electronic switches, high-efficiency power electronic conversion, etc., can solve problems such as incorrectly controlling voltage, damaging gate terminals, etc.

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-07-07
PI
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The former requires a more complex isolated barrier driver for the high-side switch
The latter have gate terminals that are easily damaged by incorrect or excessively strong control voltages

Method used

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  • Half-bridge circuits employing normally on switches and methods of preventing unintended current flow therein
  • Half-bridge circuits employing normally on switches and methods of preventing unintended current flow therein
  • Half-bridge circuits employing normally on switches and methods of preventing unintended current flow therein

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Embodiment Construction

[0029] A method is described here in which a normally-on switch is packaged in a module consisting of one or more switches which in turn are configured and controlled to regulate current flow from one or more power sources to one or more electrical loads. flow) makes the use of normally open switches an inherently safe method. These switches can be made of semiconductor materials such as silicon or silicon carbide. The normally-on switch may be a junction field effect transistor (JFET), but the method is not limited to this type of switch. Any normally-open switch that exhibits a proportional relationship between the potential applied to the control terminal of the device and the potential that the device is capable of blocking on the controlled terminal of the device without excessive leakage current flowing therethrough may be provided by the The method described ensures safety.

[0030] As described here, circuitry can be added to the gate drive circuits of the individual...

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PUM

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Abstract

A method for rendering a half-bridge circuit containing normally on switches such as junction field effect transistors (JFETs) inherently safe from uncontrolled current flow is described. The switches can be made from silicon carbide or from silicon. The methods described herein allow for the use of better performing normally on switches in place of normally off switches in integrated power modules thereby improving the efficiency, size, weight, and cost of the integrated power modules. As described herein, a power supply can be added to the gate driver circuitry. The power supply can be self starting and self oscillating while being capable of deriving all of its source energy from the terminals supplying electrical potential to the normally on switch through the gate driver. The terminal characteristics of the normally on switch can then be coordinated to the input-to-output characteristics of the power supply.

Description

technical field [0001] The present application generally relates to half-bridge circuits employing normally-on switches and electrical devices including one or more such circuits. Background technique [0002] Silicon carbide (SiC) is very attractive as a wide bandgap semiconductor material for use in high power, high temperature and / or radiation tolerant electronic devices. SiC power switches are logical candidates for these applications due to their excellent material physical properties compared to conventional silicon counterparts, such as having a wide energy bandgap, high breakdown field strength, high saturation electron drift velocity, and high Thermal conductivity. In addition to the aforementioned advantages, SiC power devices are able to operate with much lower characteristic on-resistance than conventional silicon power devices [1]. Due to these properties, SiC unipolar devices can be used to replace silicon bipolar switches (such as insulated gate bipolar tran...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): H02M3/00H03K17/94
CPCH03K17/08128H03K17/164H03K17/08122Y02B70/1483H03K17/6871H02M1/08H03K2217/0036H03K17/162H03K2017/6875Y02B70/10
Inventor 迈克尔·S·马佐拉罗宾·L·凯利
Owner PI
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