A Reliable Ultrafast Short-Circuit Protection Method for E-Mode GaN HEMT

• Published in: IEEE transactions on power electronics Vol. 35; no. 9; pp. 8926 - 8933
• Main Authors: Lyu, Xintong, Li, He, Abdullah, Yousef, Wang, Ke, Hu, Boxue, Yang, Zhi, Liu, Jiawei, Wang, Jin, Liu, Liming, Bala, Sandeep
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.09.2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Circuit protection; Data buses; Electric potential; Electron mobility; Enhancement mode (E-mode) gallium nitride high-electron mobility transistor (GaN HEMT); Fault detection; Gallium nitrides; Short circuits; short-circuit protection; Transistors; Voltage
• ISSN: 0885-8993; 1941-0107
• DOI: 10.1109/TPEL.2020.2968865

A unique three-step short-circuit protection method is proposed for the 650-V enhancement mode (E-mode) gallium nitride high-electron mobility transistor (GaN HEMT). This method can quickly detect the short-circuit event, reduce gate voltage to enhance the device short-circuit capability, and turn off the device under fault after confirmation. Experimental results prove that with this method, the short-circuit fault detection time for E-mode GaN HEMT is shortened from 2  μ s to several tens of nanoseconds, and the device can be successfully protected from fatal failure under high dc bus voltage without mistriggering.