• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.1332-1342
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• 2014

This paper proposes a novel test circuit for SiC transistors. On-state resistance under practical application conditions is an important characteristic for the device reliability and conduction efficiency of SiC transistors. In order to measure the on-state resistance in practical applications, high voltage is needed, and high current is also necessary to ignite performance for the devices. A soft-switching circuit based on synchronous buck topology is developed in this paper. To provide high-voltage and high-current stresses for the devices without additional spikes and oscillations, a resonant circuit has been introduced. Using the novel circuit technology, soft-switching can be successfully realized for all the switches. Furthermore, in order to achieve accurate measurement of on-state resistance under switching operations, an active clamp circuit is employed. Operation principle and design analysis of the circuit are discussed. The dynamic measurement method is illustrated in detail. Simulation and experiments were carried out to verify the feasibility of the circuit. A special test circuit has been developed and built. Experimental results confirm that the proposed circuit gives a good insight of the devices performance in real applications.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.7-13
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• 2002

BSCT 320${\times}$240 IRFPA detector module is implemented, which is a key component in uncooled thermal imaging systems. The detector module consists of two parts, infrared sensitive pixel array and read-out integrated circuit(ROIC). The BSCT 320${\times}$240 pixels are made by laser scribe process and 10-${\mu}m$ micro-bump to satisfy 50-${\mu}m$ pitch and 95-% fill-factor. The ROIC has been designed to electrically address the pixels sequentailly and to improve signal-to-noise ratio with single transistor amplifier, HPF, tunable LPF and clamp circuit. The fabricated hybrid chip of detector and ROIC has been mounted on the TEC built-in ceramic package for more stable operation and tested for lots of electrical and optical properties. The IRFA sample has shown successful properties and met with good results of fill-factor, detectivity and responsivity.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.221-225
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• 2016

This paper reports a new method to enable the normally-off operation of AlGaN/GaN heterojunction field-effect transistors (HFETs). A capacitor was connected to the gate input node of a normally-on AlGaN/GaN HFET with a Schottky gate where the Schottky gate acted as a clamping diode. The combination of the capacitor and Schottky gate functioned as a clamp circuit to downshift the input signal to enable the normally-off operation. The normally-off operation with a virtual threshold voltage of 5.3 V was successfully demonstrated with excellent dynamic switching characteristics.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2016.07a
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• pp.335-336
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• 2016

This paper introduces a bidirectional full-bridge converter with new active damp structure. The proposed active damp circuit can damp the oscillating voltage across the rectifier diodes with a smaller voltage stress of the damping capacitor and eliminate the circulating current. In addition, the proposed converter can achieve additional advantages such as nearly ZCS switching for leading-leg switches and no recovery current for rectifier-bridge by the suitable design of the damp capacitor to resonate with leakage inductor. Since the ZVS is achieved for both leading-leg and lagging-leg switches by the magnetizing current of the transformer, it can be achieved regardless of the load variation. A 3.3 kW prototype converter is implemented for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) application and the advantages of the proposed converter are verified by the experiments. The maximum efficiencies of 98.2% and 97.6% have been achieved for the buck mode and boost mode operation, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1996.07a
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• pp.521-524
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• 1996

A new zero voltage and nero current switching(ZVZCS) full bridge(FB) PWM converter b proposed to improve the performance of the previously presented ZVZCS-FB-PWM converters [7,8]. By adding a secondary active clamp and controlling the clamp switch moderately, ZVS(for leading-leg switches) are ZCS(for lagging-leg switches) are achieved without nay lossy components, the reverie avalanche break down of leading-leg IGBTs[7] or the saturable reactor in the primary[8]. Many advantages including simple circuit topology, high efficiency, and low cost mate the new converter attractive for high voltage and high power(> 10 kW) applications. The principle of operation is explained and analyzed. The features and design considerations of the new converter are also illustrated and verified on an 1.8 kW, 100 kHz IGBT based experimental circuit.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.413-420
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• 2014

The conventional Phase-Shift Full-Bridge (PSFB) converter has a serious voltage spike because of the ringing between the leakage inductance of the transformer and the parasitic output capacitance of the secondary side rectifier switches. To overcome this problem, an asynchronous active clamp technique employing an auxiliary DC/DC converter has been proposed. However, an exact analyses for designing the auxiliary DC/DC converter has not been presented. Therefore, the amount of power that is supposed to be handled in the auxiliary DC/DC converter is calculated through a precise mode analyses in this paper. In addition, this paper proposes a lossy snubber circuit with hysteresis characteristics to reduce the burden that the auxiliary DC/DC converter should take during the starting interval. This technique results in optimizing the size of the magnetic component of the auxiliary DC/DC converter. The operational principles and the theoretical analyses are validated through experiments with a 48V-to-30V/15A prototype.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1445-1453
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• 2017

In this study, a new zero-voltage transition (ZVT) buck converter with coupled inductor using a synchronous rectifier and a lossless clamp circuit is proposed. The regular buck converter with tapped inductor has extended duty cycle for high step-down applications. However, the leakage inductance of the coupled inductor produced considerable voltage spikes across the switch. A lossless clamp circuit is used in the proposed converter to overcome this problem. The freewheeling diode was replaced with a synchronous rectifier to reduce conduction losses in the proposed converter. ZVT conditions at turn-on and turn-off instants were provided for the main switch. The synchronous rectifier switch turned on under zero-voltage switching, and the auxiliary switch turn-on and turn-off were under zero-current condition. Experimental results of a 100 W-100 kHz prototype are provided to justify the validity of the theoretical analysis. Moreover, the conducted electromagnetic interference of the proposed converter is measured and compared with its hard-switching counterpart.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.320-323
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• 2001

A ZVZCS(Zero-Voltage and Zero-Current-Switching) Three Level DC/DC Converter is presented to secondary auxiliary circuit. The converter presented in this paper used a phase shift control with a flying capacitor in the primary side to achieve ZVS for the outer switch. A secondary auxiliary circuit, which consists of one small capacitor and two small diode, is added in the secondary to provides ZVZCS conditions to primary switches, and aids to clamp secondary rectifier voltage. The auxiliary circuit Includes neither lossy component nor addition active switch, which makes the proposed converter efficient and effective. The principle of operation, feature, and design considerations are illustrated and verified through the experiment with a 500W 50kHz prototype converter.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.746-755
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• 2017

In this paper, an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit is designed for use as a 12 V power clamp by using a parasitic-diode-triggered silicon controlled rectifier. The breakdown voltage and trigger voltage ($V_t$) of the proposed ESD protection circuit are improved by varying the length between the n-well and the p-well, and by adding $n^+/p^+$ floating regions. Moreover, the holding voltage ($V_h$) is improved by using segmented technology. The proposed circuit was fabricated using a $0.18-{\mu}m$ bipolar-CMOS-DMOS process with a width of $100{\mu}m$. The electrical characteristics and robustness of the proposed ESD circuit were analyzed using transmission line pulse measurements and an ESD pulse generator. The electrical characteristics of the proposed circuit were also analyzed at high temperature (300 K to 500 K) to verify thermal performance. After optimization, the $V_t$ of the proposed circuit increased from 14 V to 27.8 V, and $V_h$ increased from 5.3 V to 13.6 V. The proposed circuit exhibited good robustness characteristics, enduring human-body-model surges at 7.4 kV and machine-model surges at 450 V.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.105-113
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• 2011

In this paper, photovoltaic module integrated converter (MIC) based on active clamp current-fed half-bridge converter is proposed. The converter stage operates in zero-voltage condition using active clamp technique. The theoretical study and circuit design for proposed inverter are confirmed with PSIM simulator and experimental reusult.