A fast electro-thermal co-simulation modeling approach for SiC power MOSFETs

The purpose of this work is to propose a novel electro-thermal co-simulation approach for the new generation of SiC MOSFETs, by development of a PSpice-based compact and physical SiC MOSFET model including temperature dependency of several parameters and a Simulink-based thermal network. The PSpice electrical model is capable to estimate the switching behavior and the energy losses of the device accurately under a wide range of operational conditions, including high temperature operations, within a relatively fast simulation time (few seconds). The the thermal network elements are extracted from the FEM simulation of the DUT’s structure, performed in ANSYS Icepack. A MATLAB script is used to process the simulation data and feed the needed settings and parameters back into the simulation. The parameters for a CREE 1.2 kV/30 A SiC MOSFET have been identified and the electro-thermal model has been validated through experimental and manufacturer’s data.