The Impact of Multi-MHz Switching Frequencies on Dynamic On-Resistance in GaN-on-Si HEMTs

Dynamic on-resistance (dR on ), where the on-resistance immediately after turn-on is higher than the DC resistance, increases the conduction losses in power converters with gallium nitride high-electron-mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs). There exist no direct dR on measurements in the literature abov...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE open journal of power electronics Vol. 1; pp. 210 - 215
Main Authors Zulauf, Grayson, Guacci, Mattia, Rivas-Davila, Juan M., Kolar, Johann W.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 2020
Subjects
Current measurement
Dynamic on-state resistance
Frequency measurement
gallium nitride
HEMTs
MODFETs
power transistors
Switches
Temperature measurement
Voltage measurement
wide bandgap semiconductors
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Summary:Dynamic on-resistance (dR on ), where the on-resistance immediately after turn-on is higher than the DC resistance, increases the conduction losses in power converters with gallium nitride high-electron-mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs). There exist no direct dR on measurements in the literature above 1 MHz, leaving designers unable to predict conduction losses in emerging multi-MHz applications. We address this literature gap by collecting the first on-state voltage dR on measurements at multi-MHz frequencies, with a focus on the zero-voltage-switching conditions that are predominantly employed at high frequency. On the selected commercially-available HEMT with a breakdown voltage below 200 V, the dynamic contribution asymptotes above ≈ 2 MHz, a finding predicted by the slow time constants of the traps that cause dR on . For the tested HEMT, we find a maximum dR on increase over the DC resistance of 2× in a multi-MHz, zero-voltage-switched application.
ISSN:2644-1314
2644-1314
DOI:10.1109/OJPEL.2020.3005879