IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2023 - 40

all the applications utilizing 1.2 kV switches, including electric
vehicle (EV) drivetrain, bidirectional EV chargers,
industrial motor drives, solid-state transformers, datacenter
power supplies, elevator drives, dc microgrids, energy storage
grid integration, solid-state breakers, etc.
Converter Topologies Using BiDFET
Converter topologies implementable using BiDFET can be
categorized by identifying the converter cells used for their
implementation. Four different converter cells utilizing BiDFET
are shown in Figure 1(b)-(e), and Table 1 lists the popular
converter topologies corresponding to each converter cell.
The BiDFET device is fabricated as a monolithic fourterminal
switch comprised of two internal 1.2 kV 4H-SiC
JBS (Junction Barrier Schottky)-diode-embedded-power
MOSFETs (JBSFETs) connected in a common-drain configuration
[1]. Any four-quadrant switch implementation,
including back-to-back connected SiC MOSFETs will
require at least four semiconductor devices to achieve the
same functionality. The BiDFET as a monolithic four-quadrant
switch enables a converter with smaller inductance
commutation cells due to a lower number of devices, no wire
bonds requirement, and eventually smaller package size.
First Converter Hardware Demonstration Using
1.2 kV SiC BiDFET
-
Table 1. Converter topologies.
Converter cell
Current-injection
type
T-type
Matrix type
Converter topologies
Hybrid third harmonic injection-based
rectifier [2], Δ-switch rectifier [3], VIENNA
rectifier [4], SWISS rectifier [5]
T-type converter [6]
Resonant type Auxiliary resonant commutated pole (ARCP)
converter [7]
Direct matrix converter [8], Indirect matrix
converter [9], Current-source converters [10]
A single-phase, single-stage, isolated ac-dc converter utilizing
BiDFET enabled single-phase matrix converter on gridside
has been designed, developed, and implemented for
solar PV applications [11] (Figure 2). This BiDFET- enabled
converter presents significant improvements over conventional
ac-dc isolated converters built with a dc-dc dual
active bridge (DAB) cascaded with PWM inverter or folderunfolder
stage and a dc link using bulky unreliable electrolytic
capacitors. The developed converter, requiring a lower
number of switches and no electrolytic capacitors, presents
a lower volume and higher reliability solution.
The hardware prototype is implemented as a stack of four
PCBs (Figure 3). The top PCB is the control board which
supplies the auxiliary power, accepts sensor signals, generates
PWM gate signals, and protects the converter against
faults through hardware and software trip settings. The second
PCB is the grid-side full-bridge converter enabled by 1.2
kV Gen-1 SiC BiDFET with filter capacitor, Cf, and parallel
Rf - Cb damping branch on the same board. The third PCB
is the PV-side full-bridge
converter enabled by 650
V GaN Systems' enhancement-mode
GaN transistor
(GS66516T). The fourth
PCB is a filter and high-frequency
ac-link board, which
includes the grid-side inductors
Lf/2, PV-side secondharmonic
filter capacitor
Cdc, high-frequency inductor
Lr,
and high-frequency
transformer. The filter PCB
is kept closer to the PV-side
full-bridge converter PCB
as it contains the capacitor
Cdc, required to filter linefrequency
second-harmonic
components on the PV-side.
An algorithm incorpoFIG
1 (a) BiDFET symbol: TA and TB are source terminals, GA and GB are gate terminals, KSA and
KSB are kelvin source terminals, and arrows denote body diodes of the constituent JBSFETs. (b)
Current-injection type converter cell. (c) T-type converter cell. (d) Resonant type converter cell. (e)
Matrix type converter cell.
40 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE z March 2023
rating all modulation strategies
and operating modes of
the ac-dc DAB converter is
implemented for optimized
converter design and modulation
scheme. It leverages

IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2023