How Application-Driven Performance And Reliability Requirements Shape Design and Qualification Of GaN Power Devices

Focus:

The structures of GaN power transistors and their operating mechanisms differ from those of silicon (Si) power MOSFETs. These differences account for the performance advantages of the GaN transistors, but also impose different gate-drive requirements and imply different failure mechanisms. This article describes how GaN power transistors differ in structure and performance from their Si counterparts, the different approaches to achieving normally off operation, gate structures used to design enhancement-mode devices and gate-drive requirements, particularly as they relate to Infineon’s CoolGaN devices. This article also describes the extensive tests conducted by Infineon to confirm the robustness of the gate structure and to qualify these new devices for in-field applications, particularly telecom power supplies. These tests include both those already employed to evaluate the reliability of silicon MOSFETs as well as the newer tests developed in the new wide-bandgap JEDEC standards to address the distinct failure modes of GaN devices.

What you’ll learn:

• How to understand the distinct failure modes associated with GaN power transistors
• How to understand the tests being applied in industry to evaluate GaN device reliability and qualify these devices for the intended applications

View the Source

Author & Publication:

Sam Abdel-Rahman and Deepak Veereddy, Infineon Technologies, El Segundo, Calif., How2Power Today, Jun 15 2020

This article summary appears
in the HOW2POWER Design Guide.

The Design Guide offers
organized access to
hundreds of articles
on dozens of power conversion
and power management topics.

The Design Guide search results
include exclusive summaries
and accurate "how to" analysis
to help you make faster,
more informed decisions.

Search
for more articles