Circuit breakers are one of the most common components used in a short-circuit and overcurrent protection circuit, especially for higher-power systems. There are many considerations for designing in this kind of protection, and this article will show:
- Why it’s important to build in the protection
- Advantages of silicon carbide (SiC)-based solid-state circuit breakers
- Reference designs/circuits
- Tips on designing for transient or surge immunity
- Explanations of how SiC provides an edge over traditional silicon (Si) devices and other circuit-breaker technologies
In addition to the above, the article highlights Microchip’s SiC devices available from Richardson RFPD that enable DC circuit protection with highly flexible fast overcurrent and short-circuit detection and protection.


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