• ETRI Journal
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.62-68
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• 2017

In this paper, we present the design and characterization analysis of a cascode GaN field-effect transistor (FET) for switching power conversion systems. To enable normally-off operation, a cascode GaN FET employs a low breakdown voltage (BV) enhancement-mode Si metal-oxide-semiconductor FET and a high-BV depletion-mode (D-mode) GaN FET. This paper demonstrates a normally-on D-mode GaN FET with high power density and high switching frequency, and presents a theoretical analysis of a hybrid cascode GaN FET design. A TO-254 packaged FET provides a drain current of 6.04 A at a drain voltage of 2 V, a BV of 520 V at a drain leakage current of $250{\mu}A$, and an on-resistance of $331m{\Omega}$. Finally, a boost converter is used to evaluate the performance of the cascode GaN FET in power conversion applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.24 no.6_2
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• pp.919-926
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• 2021

In this paper, a study was conducted on the miniaturization of an e-Mobility battery charger module using GaN-FET. GaN-FET is one of the types of WBG devices, and it is a device that exceeds the performance of existing Si power semiconductors. In particular, GaN-FET has the advantage of small packaging size and high switching frequency operation, which is advantageous for miniaturization of power converters. Therefore, a bidirectional DC/DC converter module for e-mobility charging using GaN-FET was developed. To apply to the converter to be developed, analysis is performed on the characteristics of GaN-FET, and after manufacturing a prototype of a bidirectional DC/DC converter module, the efficiency and temperature data of the power converter are analyzed to verify its feasibility.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.321-324
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• 2020

In this work, we developed a selective etching process for GaN that is a key process in p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN enhancement-mode (E-mode) power switching field-effect transistor (FET) fabrication. In order to achieve a high current density of p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN E-mode FET, the p-GaN layer beside the gate region must be selectively etched whereas the underneath AlGaN layer should be maintained. A selective etching process was implemented by oxidizing the surface of the AlGaN layer and the GaN layer by adding O2 gas to Cl2/N2 gas which is generally used for GaN etching. A selective etching process was optimized using Cl2/N2/O2 gas mixture and a high selectivity of 53:1 (= GaN/AlGaN) was achieved.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.133-140
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• 2016

This paper presents a method of parasitic inductance reduction for high-speed switching and high-efficiency operation of a cascode structure with a low-voltage enhancement-mode silicon (Si) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) and a high-voltage depletion-mode gallium nitride (GaN) fielde-ffect transistor (FET). The method is proposed to add a bonding wire interconnected between the source electrode of the Si MOSFET and the gate electrode of the GaN FET in a conventional cascode structure package to reduce the most critical inductance, which provides the major switching loss for a high switching speed and high efficiency. From the measured results of the proposed and conventional GaN cascode FETs, the rising and falling times of the proposed GaN cascode FET were up to 3.4% and 8.0% faster than those of the conventional GaN cascode FET, respectively, under measurement conditions of 30 V and 5 A. During the rising and falling times, the energy losses of the proposed GaN cascode FET were up to 0.3% and 6.7% lower than those of the conventional GaN cascode FET, respectively.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.283-289
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• 2014

This paper carries out a series of analysis of power system using Gallium Nitride (GaN) FET which has wide band gap (WBG) characteristics comparing to conventional Si MOSFET-used power system. At first, for comparison of each semiconductor device, the switching-transient parameter is quantitatively extracted from released information of GaN FET. And GaN FET model which reflect this dynamic property is configured. By using this model, the performance of GaN FET is analyzed comparing to Si MOSFET. Also, in order to enable a representative assessment on the power system level, Si MOSFET and GaN FET are applied to the most common structure of power system, full-bridge, and each power systems are compared based on various criteria, such as performance, efficiency and power density. The entire process is verified with the aid of mathematical analysis and simulation.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.84-92
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• 2016

Compared with Si MOSFETs, the GaN FET has many advantages in a wide band gap, high saturation drift velocity, high critical breakdown field, etc. This paper compares the electrical properties of GaN FETs and Si MOSFETs. The soft-switching condition and power loss analysis in a flyback-forward high gain DC/DC converter with a GaN FET is presented in detail. In addition, a comparison between GaN diodes and Si diodes is made. Finally, a 200W GaN FET based flyback-forward high gain DC/DC converter is established, and experimental results verify that the GaN FET is superior to the Si MOSFET in terms of switching characteristics and efficiency. They also show that the GaN diode is better than the Si diode when it comes to reverse recovery characteristics.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2013.11a
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• pp.192-193
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• 2013

본 논문에서는 WBG(Wide Band Gap)특성을 갖는 GaN FET의 과도특성을 분석한다. 먼저, GaN(Gallium Nitride) FET의 공개된 정보를 바탕으로 스위칭 과도 특성과 관련된 파라미터들을 정량적으로 추출하고, GaN FET의 동특성을 반영하는 시뮬레이션 모델을 구성한다. 이 모델을 통하여 Si MOSFET과 비교하여 GaN FET의 성능을 예측한다.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2015

This paper presents the efficiency analysis of a critical current mode interleaved PFC rectifier, in which each of three different semiconductor switches is employed as the active switch. The Si FET, SiC FET, and GaN FET are consecutively used with the prototype PFC rectifier, and the efficiency of the PFC rectifier with each different semiconductor switch is analyzed. An equivalent circuit model of the PFC rectifier, which incorporates all the internal losses of the PFC rectifier, is developed. The rms values of the current waveforms main circuit components are calculated. By adapting the rms current waveforms to the equivalent model, all the losses are broken down and individually analyzed to assess the conduction loss, switching loss, and magnetic loss in the PFC rectifier. This study revealed that the GaN FET offers the highest overall efficiency with the least loss among the three switching devices. The GaN FET yields 96% efficiency at 90 V input and 97.6% efficiency at 240 V, under full load condition. This paper also confirmed that the efficiency of the three switching devices largely depends on the turn-on resistance and parasitic capacitance of the respective switching devices.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.88-96
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• 2016

In this paper, the GaN FET based phase-shift full-bridge dc-dc converter design is implemented. Switch characteristics of GaN FET were analyzed in detail by comparing state-of-the-art Si MOSFET. Owing to the low conduction resistance and parasitic capacitance, it is expected to GaN FET based power conversion system has improved performance. However, GaN FET is vulnerable to electric interference due to the relatively low threshold voltage and fast switching transient. Therefore, it is necessary to consider PCB layout to design GaN FET based power system because PCB layout is the main reason of stray inductance. To reduce the electric noise, gate voltage of GaN FET is analyzed according to operation mode of phase-shift full-bridge dc-dc converter. Two 600W phase-shifted full-bridge dc-dc converter are designed based on the result to evaluate effects of stray inductance.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.297-304
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• 2017

The purpose of this paper is to analyze losses because of switching devices and the secondary side circuit diodes of 500 W full bridge dc-dc converter by applying gallium nitride (GaN) field-effect transistor (FET), which is one of the wide band gap devices. For the detailed device analysis, we translate the specific resistance relation caused by the GaN FET material property into algebraic expression, and investigate the influence of the GaN FET structure and characteristic on efficiency and system specifications. In addition, we mathematically compare the diode rectifier circuit loss, which is a full bridge dc-dc converter secondary side circuit, with the synchronous rectifier circuit loss using silicon metal-oxide semiconductor (Si MOSFET) or GaN FET, which produce the full bridge dc-dc converter analytical value validity to derive the final efficiency and loss. We also design the heat sink based on the mathematically derived loss value, and suggest the heat sink size by purpose and the heat divergence degree through simulation.