SiC MOSFET enables miniaturisation in pulse generators

4th March 2015

Siobhan O'Gorman

0 0

Datasheet

Fukushima SiC Applied Engineering has selected ROHM’s SCT2080KE SiC MOSFET for use in its SiC-Pulser series of high voltage pulse generators. Pulse generators are used in a variety of applications, including high voltage accelerators, plasma generators and laser processing machines. Conventional systems utilise silicon devices or vacuum tubes as switching elements. However, this often entails a large number of system components which results in enormous construction and installation costs.

In contrast, SiC switching elements combine high breakdown voltage with low on-resistance and high-speed switching performance. By adopting ROHM’s SiC devices in the switch module, pulse generators can be made considerably smaller and provide a level of performance that cannot be achieved with conventional systems.

The SCT2080KE SiC MOSFET reduces switching losses by more than 70% when compared to Si IGBTs used in general inverters. Support for higher switching frequencies allows the use of smaller peripheral components, contributing to end-product miniaturisation.

According to Fukushima SiC Applied Engineering President Kokubo, “In developing a revolutionary breakthrough pulse generator we evaluated a number of different switching elements. As a result, we determined that ROHM’s SiC MOSFET was able to meet our criteria for reliability and performance. This marks the world’s first practical application of SiC in a pulse generator.”

“For example, when trying to achieve a normal conducting linac (linear accelerator) with a beam output on the order of tens of kW, conventional vacuum tube acceleration technology will result in a linac that is 1600m long. However, by adopting SiC-based acceleration technology we can reduce the length of the linac to less than 6m, thereby decreasing construction and installation costs significantly.”