Microchip supplies silicon carbide MOSFETs and digital gate drivers for Mersen SiC

Microchip to Provide Silicon Carbide MOSFETs and Digital Gate Drivers for Mersen SiC Power Stack Reference Design

Electric vehicle, commercial transportation, renewable energy and storage system designers can benefit from SiC protocol stack solutions to improve performance and cost efficiency, enabling products to be brought to market up to six months faster

E-mobility and renewable energy systems require power management solutions that improve performance efficiency and accelerate development time. To meet these requirements, Microchip Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MCHP) today announced a collaboration with Mersen, a global supplier of power management solutions for a wide range of industrial sectors including e-mobility and energy storage, to deliver a 150 kilovolt-ampere (kVA) three-phase silicon carbide power protocol stack reference design.

Mersen’s three-phase SiC power stack reference design provides system designers with a complete, compact, high-power SiC solution without the need for separate component sourcing, testing and qualification. The power stack reference design includes Microchip’s SiC power modules and digital gate drivers as well as Mersen’s busbars, fuses, capacitors and thermal management, optimized in a single, high-performance stack reference design. Leveraging Microchip’s 1200V MSCSM120AM042CD3AG SiC MOSFETs and AgileSwitch® 2ASC-12A1HP digital gate drivers, the power stack reference design enables engineers to quickly develop high-voltage systems using a pre-designed kit for their application, reducing time to market by up to six months.

“Collaborating with Mersen to provide silicon carbide MOSFET and digital gate driver solutions will benefit Microchip’s customers,” said Leon Gross, vice president of Microchip’s discrete products business unit. “Power inverter designers can purchase a proven solution that avoids sourcing separate parts and reduces risk through reliability, which helps avoid downtime. Designers now have an all-in-one evaluation system.”

Power Protocol Stack The reference design offers 16 kilowatts per liter (kW/l) power density and up to 130°C Tj, 98% peak efficiency, and switching frequencies up to 20 kilohertz (kHz). Leveraging Microchip’s rugged silicon carbide MOSFETs and AgileSwitch family of configurable digital gate drivers, the reference design enables engineers to select from 700V and 1200V options with currents up to 750A. Microchip also offers module construction options, including substrate materials, direct bond copper (DBC) ceramic materials, and die attachment methods.

“We worked closely with Microchip to design and develop this SiC Power Stack reference design, given the availability of highly robust SiC MOSFETs and compatible digital gate drivers from a single source,” said Dr. Phillipe Roussel, Vice President and Global Strategic Marketing Executive at Mersen. “As a result, we have the ability to optimize any of our customers’ inverter topologies with our high-reliability busbar, capacitor, fuse and cooling system product lines. The versatile Microchip SiC portfolio also gives us the ability to extend these key specifications to higher voltages, currents and switching frequencies to meet each customer’s operating point requirements.”

In addition to the products in Mersen ’s power stack reference design, Microchip is also a supplier of other SiC power solutions, including a family of MOSFETs and Schottky barrier diodes from 650V to 1700V, available in bare die as well as a variety of discrete and multi-chip module packages.

Microchip combines internal silicon carbide chip production with low-inductance power packaging and digital gate drivers, enabling designers to create efficient, compact and reliable end products. These devices are combined with microcontrollers (MCUs), analog and MCU peripherals, and communication, wireless and security technologies to provide system designers with mature overall system solutions for many applications.

Development Tools

Microchip AgileSwitch 2ASC-12A1HP 1200V dual-channel digital gate drivers with Augmented Switching™ technology are production-ready and fully configurable. The AgileSwitch 2ASC-12A1HP gate driver and next-generation 2ASC-12A2HP are supported by Microchip Intelligent Configuration Tool (ICT), an interface that allows users to configure gate driver parameters, including gate switching profiles, system key monitors and controller interface settings. ICT is a free download tool that saves development time.

Availability

For additional information on the protocol stack, visit the Mersen Protocol Stack Optimization Components web page or contact a Microchip sales representative or authorized worldwide distributor.