An Intelligent Gate Driver With Self-diagnosis and Prognosis for SiC MOSFETs

This paper presents an intelligent gate driver (GD) with prognosis and diagnosis (PD) functions for silicon carbide (SiC) power devices. Based on monitoring a gate current, the PD circuit provides useful diagnoses, including a GD board fault, connection verification between the GD and driven devices, and gate open/short condition. Furthermore, it can detect gate oxide degradation, generating an early warning signal to enable users to replace aged power devices with a fresh one. Due to the low-cost implementation of the proposed scheme, it can be easily integrated into the GD, featuring improved reliability. The SPICE-model-based simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.