Development and testing of an active high voltage saturation probe for characterization of ultra-high voltage silicon carbide semiconductor devices

Argenis V Bilbao; James A Schrock; William B Ray 2nd; Mitchell D Kelley; Shad L Holt; Michael G Giesselmann; Stephen B Bayne

doi:10.1063/1.4927822

Development and testing of an active high voltage saturation probe for characterization of ultra-high voltage silicon carbide semiconductor devices

Rev Sci Instrum. 2015 Aug;86(8):085104. doi: 10.1063/1.4927822.

Authors

Argenis V Bilbao¹, James A Schrock¹, William B Ray 2nd¹, Mitchell D Kelley¹, Shad L Holt¹, Michael G Giesselmann¹, Stephen B Bayne¹

Affiliation

¹ Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USA.

PMID: 26329230
DOI: 10.1063/1.4927822

Abstract

Obtaining accurate collector to emitter voltage measurements when characterizing high voltage silicon carbide (SiC) devices requires the ability to measure voltages in the range of zero to 10 V while the device is in the on-state and the ability to withstand ultra-high voltages while the device is in the off-state. This paper presents a specialized voltage probe capable of accurately measuring the aforementioned range. A comparison is made between the proposed probe and other commonly used high voltage probe alternatives in relation to high voltage SiC device testing. Testing of the probe was performed to ensure linearity, high accuracy, and high bandwidth.