NASA needs efficient, low mass, low volume power electronics for a wide variety of applications and missions. Silicon carbide (SIC) switches provide fast, low loss switching, low on-resistance and…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Phase I contract to United Silicon Carbide, Inc. (USCI) in the amount of $124,330.00. The contract is for the design and simulation of a silicon carbide (SiC) gate driver, which is a key component for enabling the performance advantages of SiC power switches in NASA's power conversion systems. The SiC gate driver will be able to operate in extreme temperature environments, allowing it to be co-located with the power switches it controls, improving overall system performance. In Phase II, USCI will fabricate and demonstrate the gate driver operating at high temperatures in a practical circuit, as well as evaluate its radiation hardness for extended space operations. The successful completion of this SBIR project will help accelerate the commercial availability of USCI's SiC integrated circuit fabrication services.

NASA needs efficient, low mass, low volume power electronics for a wide variety of applications and missions. Silicon carbide (SIC) switches provide fast, low loss switching, low on-resistance and high breakdown voltage to potentially meet this need. Gate drivers are a key component to fully realize the system level advantages that SIC power switches can provide. By implementing gate drivers in SIC, they can tolerate extreme temperatures (500 DEG. C) allowing them to be collocated with the power switches they control. This reduces parasitic inductance and circuit area improving the performance of the power switch and converter. The SIC gate driver will have direct near term application in power processing units and other NASA power conversion systems and also be suitable for future exploration missions in extreme environments. In phase i, we will design and simulate the gate driver to show its feasibility. In phase II, we will fabricate the gate drivers and demonstrate them operating at high temperature in a practical circuit such as a high voltage boost converter. We will also perform radiation testing on the gate driver to evaluate its radiation hardness as need for extended space operation. Following phase II, we will integrate the gate driver with CO-packaged SIC switches for NASA and commercial applications. Additionally, the advancement in TRL demonstrated by phase II testing will help accelerate commercial availability of usci's SIC integrated circuit fabrication service.