Electromagnetic Interference Issues of Power

Electronics Systems with Wide Band Gap

Semiconductor Devices
Firuz Zare, Dinesh Kumar, Marian Lungeanu and Aupke Andreas
Global Research & Development Center
Danfoss Drives A/S
Grsten, Denmark
fza@danfoss.com
Abstract In this paper electromagnetic interference issues of
power electronics systems with Wide Band Gap devices have
been studied. The main advantages of these power switches are
fast switching transient and high switching frequency capabilities
which can improve efficiency of power electronics systems and
reduce sizes of passive elements such as inductors and capacitors.
Several conducted and radiated emission tests and efficiency
measurement have been carried out to analyze the switching
frequency and transient effects on harmonic emission and
switching losses. The results have been compared with the same
drive configuration, layout and enclosure but with conventional
power switches (Si switches).

beginning stage of a design in order to optimize the power

electronics system.
In the next sections, Pros and Cons of WBG devices used
in the following different power electronics applications will be
discussed with respect to size, efficiency and EMI emissions.

DC-DC converters and AC-DC converters such as

switch mode power supplies and grid connected
renewable energy systems with passive filters

DC-AC converters used in motor drive systems.

Keywordselectromagnetic interference, wide band

semiconuctor devices, conducted emission, radiated emission

In power electronics systems there are two switching

factors which should be considered for EMI noise prediction.
The first one is the effect of switching frequency which mainly
corresponds to current and voltage ripples and the second one
is the effect of switching transient which can generate
significant leakage current and over voltages due to (stray
capacitance and dv/dt) and (stray inductance & di/dt),
respectively. When the switching frequency is constant, fast
switching transients (ton and toff) of WBG devices can reduce
switching losses but on the other hand can increase EMI noise
emission.
In order to analyze this issue and factorize these parameters
with respect to the frequency ranges, the following analysis has
been considered for an inductor used in a Boost converter. This
concept can be applied to different power electronics
converters including a motor drive with an AC motor and a
cable.
As shown in Fig.1 (a), a high frequency model of an
inductor can be considered as a combination of inductors,
resistors and capacitors. The test and simulation results of the
inductor magnitude and its phase angle over a frequency range
of 1kHz to 30 MHz is shown in Fig.1 (b) and (c).
A generic analysis of power converters shows that
increasing the switching frequency can decrease the passive
filter size for a same ripple current or voltage magnitude. When
a pulse width modulated voltage is applied across an inductor
in boost converter as shown in Fig. 2(a), a ripple current and a
leakage current are generated. The current magnitudes and
shapes depend on all capacitive and magnetic couplings, the
voltage transient behavior during turn-on and turn-off times

gap

I. INTRODUCTION
For several decades, Silicon (Si) based power electronics
switches have been used in many different low and high power
electronics systems. New developments in semiconductors
have allowed Si semiconductor technology to approach the
theoretical limits of the Si material but these switches cannot
fulfil new requirements such as operating at higher switching
frequencies with fast switching transients. To overcome these
limitations, new semiconductor materials for power device
applications are needed. Over the past two decades, significant
efforts and development have been performed on new
semiconductor materials called Wide Band Gap (WBG)
semiconductors, such as Silicon Carbide (SiC), Gallium Nitride
(GaN) due to their superior electrical and thermal performances
compared to silicon power switching devices [1]-[4].
Conducted and radiated Electromagnetic Interference
(EMI) emissions are major problems in power electronics
systems which produce undesirable effects on electronic
devices such as radio receivers, medical equipment,
communication systems and cause malfunctions and nonoperations in control systems [5, 6]. A main drawback of these
fast switching devices is EMI issue due to stray capacitances
and inductances in interconnections, cables and AC motors. In
modern power electronics systems, increasing power density
and decreasing cost and size of a system are market
requirements [7]-[10]. Switching losses, harmonics and EMI
are the key design factors which should be considered at a
978-1-4673-7151-3/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

II. ANALYSIS OF HARMONIC EMISSIONS

(a)

(a)

Inductance (mH)

105

(b)
Fig.2. (a) A boost converter with a high frequency inductor, (b) current
waveforms

104

103

102

10 6

10 7

Frequency (Hz)
(b)

leakage current due to the capacitive coupling of the windings

and the switching transients (dv/dt).
If the ripple current magnitude is kept constant, its spectral
content is shifted to higher or lower frequency depending on
the switching frequency. Thus high frequency conducted or
radiated emission may be a challenging issue for modern
power converters with WBG devices due to their high
switching frequency operation.
The second issue is the leakage current. This current is
generated whenever a switch is turned on or off. As shown in
Fig.2 (b), the number of these spikes depends of the switching
frequency. The magnitude of the leakage current depends on
the switching transient times. To simplify this analysis, two
different leakage currents based on a rectangular waveform
have been considered. The peak of the leakage current through
a capacitor is calculated based on ic=Cstray dv/dt. Assuming the
switching transients of SiC power switches are four times
faster than Si power switches, the leakage currents can be
calculated as follows:
Si Power Switches:
dv=Vdc and dt=t1
then, iSi=C Vdc/t1
SiC Power Switches:

105

107

(c)
Fig.1. (a) A high frequency model of an inductor; test and simulation results:
(b) magnitude, (c) phase

and also the switching frequency. These two current

waveforms are shown in Fig.2 (b).
There are two main currents which need to be analyzed.
The first one is the ripple current due to the switching
frequency and its inductance value and the second one is the

dv=Vdc and dt=t1/4 (4 times faster than Si)

then, iSiC = C Vdc/(t1/4) = 4iSi
Where Vdc is the switched DC-link voltage.
Considering a constant switching frequency for both cases,
the shapes of the leakage currents are shown in Fig. 3(a) and it
is clear that the pulse width of the iSiC is 4 times shorter than iSi
(t1=4t2) but its peak is 4 time higher in magnitude. The rms
valuesof these two signals are isi = I1 t1 and

(a)
I Ga

(a)

Rs

Ls

irect

I Gb

Cdc

I Gc

Cf

S a Sb S c

Rf

(b)

SiC
Si

Frequency (030MHz)

(b)
Fig.3. Modeling of leakage currents as two pulse patterns (a) time domain, (b)
frequency domain

t1
= 2 I1 t1 = 2isi . The spectral contents of these
4
two signals show (Fig. 3(b)) that the high frequency energy of
the leakage current generated by the SiC devices is higher than
the Si switches. It is also clear that WBG devices (SiC) can
operate at higher switching frequency and with fast switching
transient which can generate more high frequency noise than
the Si switches.
isic = 4 I1

III. IMPACT OF WBG DEVICES ON PASSIVE COMPONENTS

Using WBG devices operating at high switching
frequencies can reduce the sizes of passive components inductors and capacitors - used in power electronics systems
and make it possible to have a very compact power electronics
system. The main advantages of WBG devices in these systems
are improving the efficiency and reducing the size of the
passive filters. A main drawback can be conducted and radiated
emission issues which need to be investigated.
In some topologies such as DC-DC converters and Active
Front End systems (Fig.4 (a)&(b)), the stray capacitance of the
inductor can generate significant leakage current due to dv/dt
across the inductor. WBG devices used in these applications
can increase switching frequency and decrease switching

(c)
Fig.4. Power electronics systems- (a) a single phase PFC system, (b) an
Active Front End and (c) a motor drive system with stay capacitances
connected to common ground (Protective Earth, PE)

transient times which have a big influence on leakage current

and overvoltage noise levels. On the other hand the size of
these passive components such as an inductor can be reduced
which means the size reduction of the core and the windings,
consequently its stray capacitance (Cstray) can also be decreased
as well. This parameter and factor depends on the geometry of
the passive component and the inductor is optimized with
respect to high frequency performances. Therefore it is
expected that the peak of the leakage current (i=Cstray dv/dt) is
not increased proportionally to the dv/dt change. The other
factor which can affect the high frequency noise emission of
the converter with WBG devices is the high number of leakage
current pulses. This will increase the energy level of the noise
compare to Si switches operating at lower switching frequency
(keeping the same current ripple).
As shown in Fig.4(c), a voltage source converter used in
motor drive applications consists of a DC-link capacitor, an
inverter connected to an AC motor through a cable. Normally it
does not have an output filter at the output side of the inverter
except in some applications to suppress common mode voltage
and/or over-voltages at the motor terminals. Trend in
increasing switching frequency improves the quality of current
waveforms in motor drive systems but due to fast switching

transient, a high dv/dt is produced across a motor terminal and

a cable - between the inverter and the motor - which can
generate significant leakage current. A common mode voltage
generated by pulse width modulated voltage creates shaft
voltage through electrostatic couplings between the rotor and
the stator windings and between the rotor and the frame. This
can cause bearing currents when the shaft voltage exceeds a
breakdown voltage level of the bearing grease.
One of the main advantages of WBG devices is to decrease
the size of passive components which cannot be generalized for
motor drive applications as the size of the AC motor cannot be
decreased when the switching frequency is increased. However
this advantage can be utilized in motor drive applications if an
output filter is used between the inverter and an AC motor.
Increasing the switching frequency can reduce the size of the
output filter and consequently improving the shaft voltage and
conducted emission noise effects.
IV. TESTS RESULTS
Based on the above analysis it is possible to perform
several different tests for those different applications.
Therefore to analyze the effects of fast switching devices on
EMI noise emission, an 18.5 kW motor drive has been selected
and the drive has been prepared with two different power
inverter modules (Si and SiC). The rest of the system including
PCB layout, interconnection, modulation pattern, control
systems, load and cables are kept the same. The two different
power inverter modules and the drive under the tests are shown
in Fig.5. The switching transients of the SiC switches are
almost 4 times faster than the Si power switches. The complete
setup is shown in Fig. 5(a) when both conducted emission and
also common mode radiated emission have been captured and
measured.
The system under the test has the following parameters and
conditions:

(a)

(b)

Motor data: 18.5kW, 50Hz, 1470rpm, 400V, 35A,

Cos=0.84
Motor cable: 100m; no dv/dt filter at the output of the
drive
Efficiency measured with variation of motor speed,
load and switching frequency (fsw)
Yokogawa WT1800 power analyzer used to perform
the power measurement

The conducted emission tests have been performed and the

quasi peak values of conducted emission noises generated by
these two drives and with different power inverter modules (Si
and SiC) are compared as shown in Fig.6. The both drives have
been tested at different switching frequencies (4 kHz, 8 kHz
and 16 kHz) and the test results of these power drives are
compared for the same switching frequency as shown in
Fig.6.(a, b and c). As discussed in the above section, the low
order harmonics are not changed significantly while the high
frequency noise is increased for the drive with SiC power
switches. As the switching frequency and the motor parameters
are the same for the drives, therefore the ripple currents and
their spectral contents are almost the same. However the
significant leakage current generation of the drive with WBG
device can be observed in the test results compare to the drive

(c)
Fig.5. (a) A setup for the EMI measurement, (b) motor drive, (c) power
inverter modules SiC and Si

with Si power switches. In order to evaluated noise level at

higher frequency ranges (above 30 MHz), a common mode
probe has been place at the input side of the drive to measure
the magnetic field and the results are shown in Fig. 6(d) and the
results show that the common mode noise generated by the SiC
switches are much higher than the Si switches.

different power levels and at three different switching

frequencies (4 kHz, 8 kHz and 16 kHz). As can be seen from
the graph, at fsw=16 kHz, the efficiency of the drive with SiC is
increased around 3% for a broad range of power (92% to
95.2% at low power and 93.5% to 96.2% at high power). As
the fast switching transient of WBG devices can reduce
switching losses, therefore the efficiency improvement can be
significant at higher frequency (fsw=16 kHz compare to fsw=4
kHz).
99,0%
98,0%

(a)

97,0%
] 96,0%
[%
cy
n95,0%
e
ic
fif
E 94,0%
93,0%

SiC MOSFET inv. @ fsw=4kHz, 1125rpm

SiC MOSFET inv. @ fsw=8kHz, 1125rpm

92,0%

SiC MOSFET inv. @ fsw=16kHz, 1125rpm

91,0%
6600

8600

10600
Power [W]

12600

14600

16600

(a)
(b)

98,0%
97,0%

Efficiency

96,0%
]
[%95,0%
yc
n
ie
icf 94,0%
fE
93,0%
Si IGBT inv. @ fsw=4kHz, 1125rpm
Si IGBT inv. @ fsw=8kHz, 1125rpm

92,0%

Si IGBT inv. @ fsw=16kHz, 1125rpm

91,0%
6600

8600

10600
Power [W]

12600

14600

16600

(b)
(c)

Fig.7. Motor drive efficiency at different power and switching frequencies (a)
Si, (b) SiC

V. CONCLUSION

(d)
Fig.6. Black graph: SiC (dv/dt = 9-11 V/ns), Light blue graph: Si (dv/dt = 2-4
V/ns): (a) fsw = 4 kHz, (b) fsw = 8 kHz, (c) fsw = 16 kHz, (d) fsw =16 kHz, (d)
radiated emission noise (Blue: SiC & Yellow: Si)

Another advantage of the WBG devices is to improve

efficiency of power electronics systems. Fig.7 shows the
efficiency of these drives with Si and SiC power switches at

The main advantages of the WBG power switches are fast

switching transient and high switching frequency capabilities
which can improve efficiency of power electronics systems
(less switching loss) and reduce the size of passive filters. As
the switching frequency can be increased by WBG devices, the
spectral contents of the noise are shifted to higher frequency.
The noise magnitude depends on the topology and applications.
In Active Front End and DC-DC converters, the size of
passive filters can be reduced if the switching frequency is
increased. This can keep the current or voltage ripple constant.
Therefore the impact of switching transient (di/dt and dv/dt) on
overvoltage and leakage current generation is reduced as the
stray inductance and capacitance of the layout and passive
components are reduced due to small passive components and
compactness of the layout and the system.

This conclusion is not valid for a motor drive system with

WBG devices (SiC) as the size of the motor cannot be
decreased as the switching frequency is increased. The main
advantages of WBG devices cannot be fully utilized for motor
drive applications as the high dv/dt can affect motor terminals
and winding insulators. If an output filter is used in motor drive
application, then the filter size can be reduced with WBG
devices.
Conducted and radiated emission tests have been carried
out for an 18.5 kW motor drive system with two different
power inverter modules (SiC and Si switches) and at different
switching frequencies. The analysis and test results show that
the WBG devices used in the 18.5 kW motor drive can improve
efficiency of the system up to 3% for a broad range of load
power and at fsw=16 kHz compare to the same drive but with Si
power switches. On the other hand, conducted and radiated
emission noises generated by the drive with WBG devices is
increased up to 15 dBV for the frequency range of 10 MHz
and above.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The research work presented in this paper is part of the
Intelligent Efficient Power Electronics (IEPE) research
project.
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