Issue link: https://resources.pcb.cadence.com/i/1543417
Designing for Efficiency 10 www.cadence.com 8. Design Tradeoffs SiC devices provide measurable efficiency and switching performance improvements, but their successful integration requires careful system-level design. Higher switching speeds increase sensitivity to PCB layout parasitics, gate drive impedance, and electromagnetic interference. Engineers must balance efficiency gains against practical implementation constraints. Faster edges can increase conducted and radiated emissions if layout and filtering are not optimized. Gate drive circuits must control switching transitions to prevent excessive ringing while preserving efficiency benefits. Simulation enables quantitative exploration of these tradeoffs before hardware construction. By adjusting device parameters, magnetic models, and parasitic elements, engineers can evaluate performance margins and identify optimal design points. 9. Reproducing the Simulation Workflow The reference project is organized to allow direct comparison between silicon and silicon-carbide device implementations using identical simulation settings. The following workflow reproduces the efficiency measurements described in this appli- cation note and corresponds directly to the waveform displays shown in Figure 2. 9.1 Opening the Reference Project Open the project file in OrCAD Capture / PSpice and verify that all schematic pages load without missing libraries. The project contains two schematic variants that share identical topology and passive components. Only the power semiconductor devices differ. Before running simulations, confirm that: f The correct device libraries are loaded f Simulation profiles are visible in the project manager f No components are marked as unresolved The schematic loaded in the project should match the reference converter shown in Figure 1. This ensures simulation results are not affected by missing models and that the waveform displays represent the intended circuit configuration. 9.2 Selecting the Simulation Profile The project includes separate transient simulation profiles for silicon and SiC configurations. Open the Simulation Profile drop-down menu in the Capture toolbar and select: f Si_devices-trans for the silicon implementation f SiC_devices-trans for the silicon-carbide implementation Each profile activates the corresponding schematic configuration while preserving identical simulation parameters such as: f Transient analysis duration f Time step control f Initial condition handling f Convergence settings Maintaining identical simulation parameters ensures that measured differences in the efficiency and loss waveforms arise solely from device physics. Figure 3. Simulation profile selection menu in OrCAD Capture showing separate transient profiles for silicon and silicon-carbide device configurations.