Keysight launches dynamic power device analyzer with double-pulse tester for safely characterizing wide-bandgap semiconductors

Keysight Technologies Inc of Santa Rosa, CA, USA has launched a dynamic power device analyzer with double-pulse tester (PD1500A) to deliver reliable, repeatable measurements of wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, while ensuring the safety of the measurement hardware and the professionals performing the tests.

Growth of the electric vehicle (EV) market is driving strong demand for small, high-power, efficient electric power systems. As the industry turns to WBG semiconductor technology for mission-critical applications like renewable energy and EVs, many power converter designers are hesitant to adopt such new technology due to potential reliability and repeatability risks in characterizing a new generation of semiconductors including insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), silicon carbide (SiC), and gallium nitride (GaN), says Keysight.

Fully characterizing a SiC or GaN device requires static and dynamic measurements. Keysight says that its B1505A and B1506A power device analyzers deliver these static measurements and, with the addition of the new PD1500A, now also provides the flexibility needed to address dynamic measurements. This functionality is key, since the standards for WBG devices, established by the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC), continue to evolve, notes the firm.

The PD1500A is designed to be modular, allowing many device types to be tested and different characterization tests to be performed at a variety of power levels. The initial system provides complete double-pulse test characterization and parameter extraction for silicon and SiC power semiconductors with ratings up to 1.2kV and 200A.

The new PD1500A Dynamic Power Device Analyzer with Double-Pulse Test Capability is said to provide reliable, repeatable measurements of wide-bandgap semiconductors that enable users to:

lower costs and accelerate time to market by reducing design time and number of prototypes needed;
ensure a safe test environment;
document, support and maintain an off-the-shelf test solution, as well as maintain multiple test solutions across one or more sites;
quickly respond to reliability concerns with measurements that focus on ruggedness (e.g. short-circuit and avalanche);
simplify and automate the testing processes; and
improve device models used in design and simulation software (PD1000A).

Additional modules will be added to the PD1500A in the future to perform tests on devices requiring more current, such as GaN and power modules.

Tags: Keysight

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