By Badr Mesk
February 25, 2026
Switching losses mainly occur during the turn-on and turn-off phases of power switching devices, when voltage and current are present at the same time. In modern power converters, these losses represent a significant share of the total energy dissipation. They strongly depend on the control strategy, especially on the switching signal shape and the voltage and current slew rates (dv/dt and di/dt).
Improving converter performance often leads to the use of higher switching speeds. Steep voltage and current slopes are sometimes considered a sign of superior switching devices performance. However, this assumption overlooks important electrical and electromagnetic constraints.
Excessively fast transitions can generate oscillations, voltage overshoots, and increased electromagnetic emissions due to parasitic inductances and capacitances in the device and its environment. These effects increase electrical stress on the transistor and may reduce its long-term reliability. As a result, switching that is too fast and not properly controlled can offset the expected efficiency benefits.
The most effective solution is therefore to find a balance between minimizing switching losses and limiting unwanted side effects. To address this challenge and provide better control over switching behavior, the systems we propose are capable of selecting different switching slopes (smooth, medium, or hard) without requiring any hardware modification. A single hardware configuration can therefore adapt to various operational requirements, ensuring flexibility while maintaining optimized efficiency and reliability.
Slope control within a single hardware configuration therefore becomes a practical requirement — not only to manage switching losses, but to assess the actual trade-offs between switching speed, electrical stress, and long-term reliability under controlled and repeatable conditions.
The Modular Pulsed System provides selectable switching slopes within a single hardware configuration, allowing engineers to evaluate devices under different stress conditions while maintaining stable and repeatable measurements.
