Silicon (Si) Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) are traditionally utilized in class D audio amplifiers. It has been proposed to replace the traditional inefficient electrodynamic transducer with the electrostatic transducer. This imposes new high voltage requirements on the MOSFETs of class D amplifiers and significantly reduces the selection of suitable MOSFETs. As a consequence it is investigated if Silicon-Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs could represent a valid alternative. The theory of pulse timing errors are revisited for the application of high voltage and capacitive loaded class D amplifiers. It is shown that SiC MOSFETs can compete with Si MOSFETs in terms of THD. Validation is done using calculations and a ± 500 V amplifier driving a 100 nF load. THD+N below 0.3% is reported.

Authors: Nielsen, Dennis; Knott, Arnold; Andersen, Michael A. E.
Affiliation: Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
AES Convention: 137 (October 2014) Paper Number: 9115
Publication Date: October 8, 2014
Subject: Transducers

Click to purchase paper as a non-member or you can login as an AES member to see more options.

No AES members have commented on this paper yet.

Subscribe to this discussion

To be notified of new comments on this paper you can subscribe to this RSS feed. Forum users should login to see additional options.

Start a discussion!

If you would like to start a discussion about this paper and are an AES member then you can login here:
Username:
Password:

If you are not yet an AES member and have something important to say about this paper then we urge you to join the AES today and make your voice heard. You can join online today by clicking here.