Kit Evaluates MOSFETs, Gate Drivers Under Real Operating Conditions

June 2, 2023

Wolfspeed’s SpeedVal Kit platform enables testing of SiC devices, gate drivers, and controls at real operating conditions, allowing design engineers to transition to wide-bandgap semiconductors in their designs.

Alix Paultre

Related To: Electronic Design

Check out our PCIM 2023 coverage. This video is also part of the TechXchange: Silicon Carbide (SiC).

Intended to speed the transition from silicon to silicon carbide (SiC), Wolfspeed's SpeedVal Kit is a versatile modular evaluation platform that provides a flexible set of building blocks for in-circuit evaluation. Enabling the quick evaluation and optimization of the high-speed dynamic switching performance of Wolfspeed SiC MOSFETs, the platform can pair with a variety of gate-driver options from company partners, as well as perform high-power thermal testing.

To complement hardware testing, a modular Spice model was developed for each block in the system. In addition, a novel card-edge connection to the power daughtercard enables users to change SiC devices quickly while maintaining a low-inductance connection to the dc bus. This approach lets the same platform evaluate SiC devices in a range of packages from surface-mount TOLL devices up through TO-247 packages.

Alix Paultre | Editor-at-Large, Electronic Design

An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the US military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications in the embedded electronic engineering space. Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Also check out his YouTube watch-collecting channel, Talking Timepieces.