At the heart of modern power electronics converters are power semiconductor switching devices. The emergence of wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices, including silicon carbide and gallium nitride, promises power electronics converters with higher efficiency, smaller size, lighter weight, and lower cost than converters using the established silicon-based devices. However, WBG devices pose new challenges for converter design and require more careful characterization, in particular due to their fast switching speed and more stringent need for protection.

Characterization of Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductor Devices presents comprehensive methods with examples for the characterization of this important class of power devices. After an introduction, the book covers pulsed static characterization; junction capacitance characterization; fundamentals of dynamic characterization; gate drive for dynamic characterization; layout design and parasitic management; protection design for double pulse test; measurement and data processing for dynamic characterization; cross-talk consideration; impact of three-phase system; and topology considerations.