SiC MOSFETs now deliver class-leading performance in SMD packaging

Nexperia has announced that it now offers its industry-leading 1200V SiC MOSFETs in D2PAK-7 SMD packaging, with a choice of 30, 40, 60, and 80mOhm RDSon values. This announcement follows its late-2023 release of two discrete SiC MOSFETs in three and four-pin TO-247 packaging and is the latest offering in a series that will see its SiC MOSFET portfolio swiftly expand to include devices with RDSon values of 17, 30, 40, 60, and 80mOhm in flexible package options.

With the release of the NSF0xx120D7A0, the company is addressing the growing market demand for high-performance SiC switches in SMD packages like D2PAK-7, which is becoming increasingly popular in various industrial applications, including EV charging (charge pile, offboard charging), UPS and inverters for solar and ESS. It is also further testimony to its successful strategic partnership with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO), which has seen the two companies join forces to push the energy efficiency and electrical performance of SiC wide bandgap semiconductors to the next level while also future-proofing production capacity for this technology in response to ever-growing market demand.

RDSon is a critical performance parameter for SiC MOSFETs because it impacts conduction power losses. However, many manufacturers concentrate on the nominal value, overlooking the fact that it can increase by more than 100% as device operating temperatures rise, resulting in considerable conduction losses. The company identified this as a limiting factor in the performance of many currently available SiC devices and employed the features of its innovative process technology to ensure that its new SiC MOSFETs provide industry-leading temperature stability, with the nominal value of RDSon increasing by only 38% over an operating temperature range from 25C to 175C.

Tightest threshold voltage, VGS(th) specification, enables these discrete MOSFETs to supply balanced current-carrying performance when connected in parallel. Furthermore, low body diode forward voltage (VSD) is a parameter that increases device robustness and efficiency while also relaxing the dead-time requirement during freewheeling operation.