SiC Schottky

Diodes in
Power Factor
Correction By Stuart Hodge Jr., Senior Member IEEE,
Cree Inc.,

Efficiency gains resulting from the use of high- As advances occur within the semiconductor market, it
voltage SiC rectifiers in PFC boost converters can isn’t always clear what the expected advantage is or how
be used to increase power output, increase it will benefit a specific application. Often, the designer must
change the design to fully realize the benefit of next-
switching frequency for a smaller design or
generation silicon. Engineers want less work, not more.
improve reliability. At the same time, SiC Schottkys In recent years, work has been done to create power semi-
can reduce EMI. conductors based on a new and enabling semiconductor ma-
ctive Power Factor Correction (PFC) is terial. Silicon Carbide Schottky barrier diodes (SiC SBD) are

A
w idely used in today’s pow er supplies. the first of what undoubtedly will be many new power de-
Government regulations and customer re- vices based on this unique material.
quirements must be satisfied when design-
ing these circuits. Increasingly, efficiency PFC Background
and power density are dominating the design tasks for a At power levels above approximately 200 W, most
typical ac-dc converter. Designers also are being challenged active PFC designs are continuous conduction mode (CCM)
to speed the design process and eliminate risk. boost converters. It should be apparent that critical and
discontinuous conduction mode converters suffer from
large peak-to-peak current levels because the inductor cur-
rent swings to zero each switching cycle. Fig. 1 shows the
three main conduction modes for a boost converter. The
Iin
CCM not only limits peak current stress, but also will be
Load

easier to filter.
Along with the benefits of using CCM, certain drawbacks
exist, the most notable being the losses and EMI generation
associated with the turn-off of the boost diode.
Fig. 2 shows the typical MOSFET and diode currents for
a CCM boost converter using an ultrafast high-voltage sili-
con rectifier. Note that the reverse recovery current of the
Typical input voltage and current: diode shows up in the MOSFET drain current. This current
continuous conduction mode will cause significant power dissipation in the MOSFET, along
with increased EMI.
Typical input voltage and current: Obviously, areas exist where improvements in efficiency
critical conduction mode can be made. Consider a PFC circuit delivering 400 W while
operating with 90-Vac input and 400-V output. The average
Typical input voltage and current: output current will be 1 A, the average input current will be
discontinuous conduction mode
4.94 A, and thus the average shunt current will be 3.94 A. This
would lead to the conclusion that either the input or shunt
path would be the best place to improve efficiency. What may
Fig. 1. Comparison of conduction modes for a boost converter.
 POWER FACTOR CORRECTION

Continuous conduction mode PFC available in current ratings from 1 A to 20 A at 600 V, 10 A to

20 A at 300 V, and 5 A to 20 A at 1200 V. The 600-V product
line is well suited for PFC front-end designs.
SiC belongs to the wide bandgap group of semiconduc-
tor materials. This characteristic makes it ideal for creating

Load
high-voltage SBDs. In addition, much of the performance
advantage of the silicon carbide versus silicon is enhanced
at higher temperatures.

It’s All About Efficiency

The key benefit of using SiC Schottky diodes is the lack of
Typical switch and diode current recovery currents. SiC SBDs have only a small stored capaci-
tive charge. This lack of recovery current produces waveforms
that have clean edges, reduced ringing and predictable losses.
Fig. 2. Typical MOSFET and diode current waveforms. Often, snubbers used to limit reverse recovery currents and
reduce EMI generation can be eliminated.
100%
Efficiency is only one goal that challenges a power supply
SiC designer. Cost, weight, size and electrical performance are
S 97% also foremost on the designer’s mind. An efficient
design can help meet these goals. Furthermore, a more-effi-
94%
Efficiency

cient design reduces heatsink requirements, which can lead to

91% size, weight and cost savings.
Efficiency gains alternatively can be used to allow the de-
88% livery of higher power from the same design. Efficiency im-
provements also may allow the design of a cooler
85% running power system. Cooler operation leads to improve-
50 W 150 W 250 W 350 W 450 W
ments in system reliability. As you can see, it really is all about
Fig. 3. Low-line (90 Vac) efficiency comparisons for an 80-kHz, 500- the efficiency.
W PFC front-end converter built with ultrafast Si rectifiers or Cree’s To demonstrate possible gains, a 500-W PFC front-end
was designed and tested. Performance was measured
using ultrafast silicon rectifiers and Cree’s SiC Schottky
File Vertical Timebase Trigger Display Cursors Measure Math Analysis Utilities Help M3 Setup
rectifiers. Although efficiency improvements are often a ma-
jor design goal, this improvement could be used to enhance
performance in
Input Voltage 90 Vac to 270 Vac other areas. Most
Silicon Carbide Output Power 500 W notably, an in-
M2 crease in switching
M1 Output Voltage 390 V
Table 1. Converter ratings. frequency can be
obtained by trad-
ing some or all of the efficiency gain. Increasing the switching
Silicon
frequency will result in a smaller and lighter power supply. To
evaluate this possibility, a second converter running at a higher
M1 4.00 A/div M2 4.00 A/div Timebase -18.4 ms Trigger C1
20.0 ns/div 20.0 ns/div 5.00 ms/div Stop -12.50 A frequency was designed and tested.
250 k8 5.0 GS/s Edge Positive Tab le 1 shows the basic ratings of the converters that
Fig. 4. Low-line diode recovery currents in PFC front-end converter. were designed and tested. This PFC converter design would
be typical of front-end power supplies designed for the
not be clear is that shunt path improvements can come from server market.
changing the output diode. Fig. 3 shows the measured efficiencies for an 80-kHz PFC
Referring again to Fig. 22, we see that the recovery current converter at low-line input. The converter was designed to
from a standard ultrafast silicon diode produces a large cur- operate in CCM with a peak ripple current of 15% at low line.
rent spike that must be dissipated in the shunt device. This The graph shows the improvements that the SiC diode made.
current spike can be larger than the forward current in the The improvements in efficiency are greatest at the higher
diode. Also, this reverse current, like the MOSFET on-state loading, with an efficiency increase of 2%. This is a direct
resistance, increases with temperature, which can lead to ther- result of the reduction in recovery currents that are highest in
mal runaway conditions. the silicon diode at the highest loads. In comparison, the SiC
Cree Inc. has developed a line of high-voltage SiC SBDs diode charge recovery is independent of forward current.
 File Vertical Timebase Trigger Display Cursors Measure Math Analysis Utilities Help M3 Setup File Vertical Timebase Trigger Display Cursors Measure Math Analysis Utilities Help M3 Setup

Silicon
F1
F2
F3

Silicon Carbide

M2
M3
F1 (C1 - C2) Timebase 5.3 ns Trigger C1 Measure P1:area (F3) P2:area (F3) P4: min(C2) P5: ---- P6: ----
75 V/div 5.00 ns/div Stop 413 V value 79.87087 mJ 8.920 mJ P3: mean(F1)
5.00 ns/div 250 s 5.0 GS/s Edge Positive status a a
67 G/vs X1 = -6.45 ns DX = 5.35 ns Timebase 0 ns Trigger C2
X2 = -1.10 ns 1/DX = 187 MHz 50.0 ns/div Stop 151 V
2.50 kS 5.0 GS/s Width Positive
Fig. 5. SiC Schottky turn-off slope in PFC front-end converter. F1 zoom(... F2 zoom(... F3 (F1*F2) M1 M2 M3
100 V 100 V 1.00 k/V 100 V 5.00 A 1.00 k/V
File Vertical Timebase Trigger Display Cursors Measure Math Analysis Utilities Help M3 Setup
50.0 ns 50.0 ns 50.0 ns 50.0 ns 50.0 ns 50.0 ns

Silicon
Fig. 7. MOSFET turn-on loss in PFC front-end converter.

F1

M1
Silicon Carbide Schottky

Measure P1:pkpk(F1) Timebase -28.8 ns Trigger C1

value 504 V 20.0 ns/div Stop 412 V
status a 1.00 kS 5.0 GS/s Edge Positive
F1 (C1 - C2)
75 V/div
20.0 ns/div
Fig. 8. A size comparison of an 80-kHz PFC front-end built with Si
Fig. 6. SiC vs. Si turn-off noise in PFC front-end converter. rectifiers (left) and a 200-kHz PFC front-end with SiC rectifiers.

Fig. 4 shows a comparison of reverse recovery cur- Fig. 6 shows the turn-off edge for a SiC Schottky diode
rents. Note the small reverse current in the SiC SBD wave- and an ultrafast silicon diode. The waveform offset and trig-
form. This small reverse current is the junction charging ger point are skewed for clarity. You can see the advantage of
current from the junction capacitance. Of special note, zero recovery. The lack of recovery current in the SiC diode
this current is totally temperature independent. generates substantially less noise, which will lead to less EMI
The reverse recovery current in the silicon diode, like the generation.
on-state resistance in the MOSFET, will rise even further with Fig. 7 shows the energy dissipation in the MOSFET switch
increased temperature. These increases will cause switching caused by the recovery current in the boost diode. The silicon
losses to increase and possibly create a thermal runaway situ- diode loss was 79.9 ␮J, which translates to 6.4 W at 80 kHz
ation. Also note the di/dt of the diode current is approxi- and 16 W at 200 kHz. Compare that to SiC at 8.9 ␮J or 0.7 W
mately 1500 A/␮s. The SiC Schottky recovery is independent at 80 kHz and 1.75 W at 200 kHz. That’s almost a 90% reduc-
of di/dt. tion in turn-on loss.
A paper has been written that questioned the dV/dt
capability of SiC Schottky rectifiers. [4] The paper found that High-Frequency Operation
failure would occur under single pulse test conditions above As stated earlier, improved efficiency could be used to
55 V/ns. On the contrary, Fig . 5 shows the actual diode op- create a power system with a higher switching frequency. The
eration of Cree’s ZERO REC OVERY™ rectifier in this converter basic design goals were kept the same as the original silicon-
with a voltage slope of 67 V/nS. This power supply has logged based design, and the overall switching frequency was raised
many hours of operation without issue. to the point where efficiency matched the original silicon
 POWER FACTOR CORRECTION

design. The increase in switching fre- 80 kHz 200 kHz Delta load and the SiC Schottky has a
quency facilitates a reduction in the boost PCB 23.9 in2
14.8 in2 -38% slight advantage in the medium
inductor size, as well as other switching- 154.1 cm2 95.5 cm2 to high loads.
frequency reactive components. Volume 47.8 in3 3
29.6 in -38% Today, high-frequency operation
What may be a surprise is the ability 782.8 cm3 485.1 cm3 of dc-dc converters is becoming com-
to reduce the size of the input EMI filter. Weight 18.4 oz 10.4 oz -44% monplace. With the material advan-
Most EMI filter designs for low-fre- 521.6 gm 294.8 gm tages of SiC, PFC designs now can reap
quency PFC circuits require additional Density 10.5 W/in3 16.9 W/in3 +61% some of the benefits of higher fre-
differential mode inductance to create at- 0.64 W/cm3 1.03 W/cm3 quency operation. With careful elec-
tenuation below the switching frequency. Table 2. Low-frequency Si vs. high-frequency SiC. trical design and PCB layout, reliable
In contrast, higher-frequency designs can operation at high frequency is not only
often rely on the leakage inductance of 100% reasonable, but also improves overall
common-mode inductors to create 97% system performance.
low-pass filtering far below the opera- The ability to operate the front-end
94%

Efficiency
tional frequency. PFC converter and the downstream
The design goal of increasing the 91% dc-dc converter at high frequency cre-
switching frequency until the original ates the opportunity for synchronous
80 kHz Si 88%
efficiency was reached required some- 200 kHz SiC
operation. Synchronous operation
what of a trial-and-error process. As 85% with leading-edge/trailing-edge modu-
50 W 150 W 250 W 350 W 450 W
the frequency is increased, the boost lation techniques can reduce EMI and
inductor design must be modified and Fig. 9.Efficiency of PFC front-end built using the ripple current in the high-voltage
high-frequency filtering components low-frequency Si-based design vs. high- bulk capacitor.
changed. These, in turn, affect efficiency. frequency SiC-based design.
The goal was achieved when the new
converter efficiency was “close” to the original design. References
Fig. 8 is a photograph of the final designs for the two 1. Agarwal, A.; Singh, R., et al, “600V, 1-40A Schottky Diodes
PFC converters. As you can see, a major reduction in size in SiC and Their Applications,” Cree Inc., www.cree.com/ftp/
was achieved. Tab le 2 lists some basic comparative fea- pub/CPWR-AN02.pdf.
tures between the low-frequency and high-frequency de- 2. Spiazzi,G.; Buso, S., et al, “Performance Evaluation of a
sign. The high-frequency design is not only smaller, but Schottky SiC Power Diode in a Boost PFC Application,” Power
also weighs 44% less than the low-frequency design. Electronics Specialist Conference Proceedings, Cairns,
The goal of this work was to design a PFC front-end Queensland, Australia, June 23-27, 2002.
that would use the efficiency gains from implementing 3. Ben-Yaakov, A. and Zeltser, I. “Benefits of Silicon Carbide
a SiC Schottky diode to increase the switching frequency. Schottky Diodes in Boost APFC Operating in CCM,” Power
Fig. 9 shows the efficiency for an 80-kHz design using a Conversion and Intelligent Motion, PCIM-2001, 101-105,
silicon ultrafast diode and for a 200-kHz design using a SiC Nuremberg, 2001.
boost diode. 4. Acharya, K. and Shenai, K. “On the dV/dt Rating of SiC
The efficiency curves show n in Fig Fig.. 9 match closely, Schottky Power Rectifiers,” Proceedings Power Electronics Tech-
although the silicon diode is more efficient at light nology Conference, October 2002, pp. 672-677. PETech

Reprinted with permission from the August 2004 issue of Power Electronics Technology. ® (www.powerelectronics.com)
Copyright 2004, PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Inc. All rights reserved.

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