IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - September 2016 - 14

Monolithic HV
gan Power Ics
Performance and application

by Dan Kinzer and Stephen Oliver

T

he 2016 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference featured more than 100 papers [1]
based on gallium nitride (GaN) power components up to 650 V, yet market adoption of
GaN in off-line alternating current (ac) or
400  V direct current (dc) input converters has been
slow. This article explores the physical material advantages of GaN versus silicon (Si) and compares early
cascode GaN approaches in terms of device, package,
and application design. A new approach is introduced
where drive, logic, and field-effect transistor (FET) are
monolithically integrated to create a GaN power integrated circuit (IC). Comparative data is provided for
the device and circuit performance, including the size
and cost versus the frequency, with a focus on a 150-W
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2016.2585474
Date of publication: 7 September 2016

14

IEEE PowEr ElEctronIcs MagazInE

z	September 2016

ac-dc converter, using boost power factor correction
(PFC) and LLC topologies.

GaN: The Early Years
GaN has been used in light-emitting diode (LED) form
since the 1990s, in Blu-ray players introduced in 2003, and
in radio-frequency (RF) transmitters and amplifiers. GaN
transistors can operate at much higher temperatures and
work at much higher voltages than gallium arsenide (GaAs)
transistors, so they make ideal power amplifiers at microwave frequencies [2].
For switch-mode power supplies, power GaN took
another 10-15 years to evolve from an academic curiosity
to an industry-proven platform. Substrate selection and the
development of low-defect GaN epitaxy have been major
issues. Originally, power GaN devices were developed
on the same substrate material as LEDs and RF devices,
primarily sapphire and silicon carbide (SiC), respectively.
2329-9207/16©2016IEEE



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - September 2016

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