Current Status and Future Trends of GaN HEMTs in Electrified Transportation

• Published in: IEEE access Vol. 8; p. 1
• Main Authors: Keshmiri, Niloufar, Wang, Deqiang, Agrawal, Bharat, Hou, Ruoyu, Emadi, Ali
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.01.2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Electric vehicle; Electric vehicles; Electrification; Gallium nitride; Gallium nitrides; HEMTs; high electron mobility transistor; High electron mobility transistors; hybrid electric vehicle; Material properties; MODFETs; MOSFET; Packaging design; Passive components; Powertrain; Semiconductor devices; Silicon; Silicon carbide; Switches; Thermal management; Transportation industry; Trends; Vehicles; wide bandgap devices
• ISSN: 2169-3536; 2169-3536
• DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2986972

Gallium Nitride High Electron Mobility Transistors (GaN HEMTs) enable higher efficiency, higher power density, and smaller passive components resulting in lighter, smaller and more efficient electrical systems as opposed to conventional Silicon (Si) based devices. This paper investigates the detailed benefits of using GaN devices in transportation electrification applications. The material properties of GaN including the applications of GaN HEMTs at different switch ratings are presented. The challenges currently facing the transportation industry are introduced and possible solutions are presented. A detailed review of the use of GaN in the Electric Vehicle (EV) powertrain is discussed. The implementation of GaN devices in aircraft, ships, rail vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles is briefly covered. Future trends of GaN devices in terms of cost, voltage level, gate driver design, thermal management and packaging are investigated.