Comprehensive evaluation on Si/SiC hybrid switch including single-pulse avalanche and short-circuit robustness

Hang-Zhi Liu; Yu-Ming Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.jnlest.2026.100349

Journal of Electronic Science and Technology ›› 2026, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (1) :100349 DOI: 10.1016/j.jnlest.2026.100349

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Comprehensive evaluation on Si/SiC hybrid switch including single-pulse avalanche and short-circuit robustness

Hang-Zhi Liu ^a^,^b
, Yu-Ming Zhou ^a^,^b^,^*

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^a Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Power Electronics and Motion Control, Anhui University of Technology, Ma'anshan, 243032, China

^b School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Ma'anshan, 243032, China

^* E-mail addresses: hangzhi_liu@ahut.edu.cn (H.-Z. Liu),

ymzhou@ahut.edu.cn (Y.-M. Zhou).

Hang-Zhi Liu received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from Anhui University of Technology (AHUT), Maanshan, China in 2015 and 2018, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the College of Electrical and Information Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, China in 2023. He is currently a lecturer in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at AHUT. His research interests include power semiconductor devices, power integrated circuits, and their applications in power electronic systems.

Yu-Ming Zhou received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in microelectronics and solid-state electronics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China in 1993, 2004, and 2007, respectively. He is currently a professor of microelectronics and solid-state electronics at the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, AHUT. His key interests include modeling of power semiconductor devices, reliability analysis of power semiconductor devices, and applications of wide-bandgap semiconductor devices.

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Abstract

In this paper, a comprehensive evaluation on the silicon/silicon carbide (Si/SiC) hybrid switch is performed through by experimental tests in terms of both electrical performance and robustness under extreme stresses. Based on the optional turn-on and turn-off delay times under the efficiency control mode obtained from the double-pulse test (DPT), both nondestructive and destructive single-pulse avalanche tests are conducted on the Si/SiC hybrid switch as well as on the two discrete device branches inside the hybrid switch. In addition, the avalanche voltage, critical avalanche energy, and peak avalanche current, which intrinsically characterize the unclamped-inductive-switching (UIS) avalanche characteristics, are carefully examined. In this way, the physical factors dominating the UIS characteristics of the hybrid switch, thus limiting its single-pulse avalanche withstand capability, are specifically and comprehensively identified; the underlying physical mechanisms are analyzed and revealed in depth, and how the gate control sequence affects the UIS characteristics of the hybrid switch is extensively investigated. We additionally carry out short-circuit (SC) tests under the fault-under-load (FUL) condition and perform a parallel in-depth analysis to experimentally determine which branch dominates the SC withstand capability of the hybrid switch. Our experimental study indicates that, for both SC robustness and single-pulse avalanche capability, the limiting factor is a single device branch among the two parallel discrete devices, and the UIS behavior is sensitive to the variation of the gate turn-off delay time T_{off_delay}. The study conducted in this paper not only provides deep academic insights into the electrical performance and reliability of the Si/SiC hybrid switch, but also offers fundamental theoretical principles and technical evidence to support more efficient and long-term reliable applications of the hybrid switch in the industrial fields.

Keywords

Gate switching delay / Hybrid switch / Si/SiC / Single-pulse avalanche / Short-circuit

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Hang-Zhi Liu, Yu-Ming Zhou. Comprehensive evaluation on Si/SiC hybrid switch including single-pulse avalanche and short-circuit robustness. Journal of Electronic Science and Technology, 2026, 24(1): 100349 DOI:10.1016/j.jnlest.2026.100349

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CRediT authorship contribution statement

Hang-Zhi Liu: Conceptualization, Writing−original draft, Methodology, Validation, Writing−original draft. Yu-Ming Zhou: Methodology, Data curation, Visualization, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgment

This work was supported in part by the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation Youth Project (Category C) under Grant No. 2508085QE184, the Opening Project of Key Laboratory of Power Electronics and Motion Control of Anhui Higher Education Institutions under Grant No. PEMC24004, the Anhui University of Technology Young Teachers Research Fund under Grant No. QZ202412, and the Scientific Research Startup Fund for Introduced Talents of Anhui University of Technology under Grant No. QD202340.

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