An electric power converter (100) which is provided with a switching element (101) and a rectifying element (102) that is connected in series to the switching element (101). This electric power converter (100) has a configuration wherein an external electrical load (103) is connected to the connection point of the switching element (101) and the rectifying element (102). The switching element (101) is composed of an insulating gate type semiconductor element that has a first gate terminal (105) and a second gate terminal (106). The rectifying element (102) is composed of a diode that has a Schottky junction which uses silicon carbide as a semiconductor base. Different driving signals are applied to the first gate terminal (105) and the second gate terminal (106), respectively.