How To Power SiC Or IGBT Half Bridges In EVs

By Asa Kirby, Product Manager, Skyworks

For over a century, vehicles have relied on fuel, pistons, and complex gearboxes to convert energy into mechanical motion. Today's electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) rely on sophisticated electronics to convert electrical power into mechanical motion.

This new class of vehicles uses high-voltage converters and traction inverters to manage power efficiently. Common to many of these high-voltage systems is the half-bridge configuration and the need for isolation. A significant challenge for isolated, high-voltage systems is generating a low-voltage rail in the high-voltage domain to power the isolator and other low-voltage devices.

In silicon carbide FET systems, the need to generate a negative gate voltage adds additional complexity to the low-voltage rail. Fortunately, by considering some gate drive and flyback converter fundamentals, many of these low-voltage challenges can be understood and solved. To learn more, download the full white paper.