New Industry Products

Infineon Introduces New CoolSiC MOSFET and 2EDN Gate Driver Families

March 24, 2022 by Gary Elinoff

The two new families will serve to enhance energy efficiency, in addition to saving weight and board space.

Worldwide digitalization, urbanization, and electromobility are leading to ever increasing power consumption. And in response, demands for energy efficiency are growing ever more pressing. MOSFETs and the drivers that animate them are key elements in the electronic industry’s drive to lower power consumption and to increase energy efficiency. 

In light of that, Infineon in recent days announced the addition of a 650 V family to its existing CoolSic line of high-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, together with a new family of gate driver ICs, the EiceDRIVER 2EDN. 

After a quick technical refresher, we dive into the specs below. 

 

MOSFETs and Drivers

MOSFETs and their drivers are singularly dependent on each other. Silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors can’t be driven directly by the signal outputs of devices such as MPUs, and it’s the driver that provides the necessary signal power boost necessary to control them.

The driver also provides voltage isolation between low-voltage, low-power computational elements and electrically noisy, high-voltage power sections. Modern drivers like the EiceDRIVER 2EDN IC are highly integrated devices, freeing engineers from the difficult task of designing a multi-component equivalent. This saves design time, and reduces final products’ BOM, weight, and size.

 

Infineon’s 650 V CoolSiC MOSFETs

Infineon’s new CoolSiC 650 V SiC MOSFETs build on its respected SiC trench technology. Compared to last generation silicon (Si) based semiconductors, these 650 V series MOSFETs feature 80% lower reverse recovery charge (Qrr) and drain-source charge (Qoss), allowing for superior switching behavior even at higher currents. Those reduced switching losses allow for high-frequency, high-efficiency operations, enabling the employment of smaller filtering components and, ultimately, greater power density. 

 

The new CoolSiC 650 V MOSFET family. Image used courtesy of Infineon

 

CoolSiC’s trench technology forms the basis for superb gate oxide reliability, and along with improved avalanche and short-circuit protection, this provides for high-system reliability even in harsh environments. And thanks to their temperature-stable RDS(ON)s, the devices exhibit excellent thermal behavior. 

The MOSFETs offer VGS range from -5 to 23 V and support 0 V turn-off VGS and a VGS(th) of greater than 4 V, allowing the family to work with most standard MOSFET gate driver ICs. Infineon’s .XT interconnection technology improves the package’s thermal capabilities and allows for up to 30% extra loss dissipation.

 

The EiceDRIVER 2EDN Product Family 

Consisting of fourteen new dual-channel, 4 A/5 A low-side gate driver ICs, Infineon’s new EiceDRIVER 2EDN product family expands its existing line of 2EDN drivers. Aimed at both fast power MOSFETs and at wide bandgap (WBG) switching devices, the new drivers enable safe turn-off before under-voltage lock-out (UVLO), with fast UVLO reaction for robust operation and noise immunity. 

 

Infineon's EiceDRIVER family. Image used courtesy of Infineon

 

4 V and 8 V UVLO options are available for instant power switch protection under abnormal conditions. 1 ns channel-to-channel accuracy enables the use of two channels in parallel, if needed. 

 

Applications 

  • Applications for both new product lines include: 
  • Motor drives
  • Solar energy systems and energy storage 
  • EV charging
  • SMPS
  • LED lighting
  • DC/DC converters
  • Servers
  • Telecom

 

Physical Considerations

The 650 V CoolSiC MoSFETS are available in 10 x 9.25 mm D2PAK 7-pin (TO-263-7) packages. 

The EiceDRIVER 2EDN gate drivers are available in five packages: 

  • ​8-pin DSO
  • TSSOP
  • WSON
  • 6-pin SOT23 (2.8 x 2.9 mm2) 
  • TSNP (1.1 x 1.5 mm2 ) 

 

​​Feature image used courtesy of Infineon