Normally-off GaN switching 400V in 1.4ns using an ultra-low resistance and inductance gate drive

Brian Hughes, Rongming Chu, James Lazar, Stephen Hulsey, Austin Garrido, Daniel Zehnder, Marcel Musni, Karim Boutros

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

A turn-on time of 1.4ns is measured in a normally-off GaN synchronous boost converter switching 400V. The high-speed performance is achieved by significantly improving the GaN switches, packaging and gate drive. A recently developed normally-off, AlN-based insulating-gate, AlGaN/GaN-on-Si HFET operates with a high gate voltage of 6V [1]. The higher gate voltage increases gate current for faster switching. A Multi-Chip-Module (MCM) allows paralleling GaN switch up to 20Arms with low parasitic inductance of ∼ 3.6nH in the power loop. The gate drive uses 50m bare MOSFETs integrated onto the MCM to significantly reduce gate driver inductance to 1nH. The very fast switching results in large drain undershoot of 200V, and gate overshoot of more than 6V. Increasing the gate turn-on resistance to 1.4 eliminates gate voltage overshoot and reduces drain voltage overshoot to ∼20V, at the cost of an increased turn-on time of 3ns.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication1st IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications, WiPDA 2013 - Proceedings
Pages76-79
Number of pages4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013
Event1st IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications, WiPDA 2013 - Columbus, OH, United States
Duration: Oct 27 2013Oct 29 2013

Publication series

Name1st IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications, WiPDA 2013 - Proceedings

Conference

Conference1st IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications, WiPDA 2013
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityColumbus, OH
Period10/27/1310/29/13

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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