Fig. 1. (a) Schematic of the D3GaN device. (b) structure of the D-mode GaN HEMT. (c) top-cooled SMT package with AlN ceramic substrate.
This paper presents the evaluation of a 650-V, 100-A, 22-mΩ rated D
3GaN (Direct Drive Depletion-mode) power switch (V22TC65S1A) from VisIC Technologies, which is designed for electric vehicles (EV) powertrain inverter applications (Fig. 1). The static and dynamic performance as well as the surge-energy and short-circuit robustness of the D
3GaN were evaluated in a top-cooled surface-mount device package. Multiple customized test boards were employed to evaluate the switching loss, dynamic on-resistance, gate charge (
Qg), and robustness. The D
3GaN switch has shown a small total
Qg, high breakdown voltage, positive threshold voltage, small switching-energy loss, fast switching speed, and good robustness. These advantages make the D
3GaN switch an attractive candidate for high-power EV powertrain inverter applications. To the best of our knowledge, this work presents the first comprehensive evaluation of a high-power GaN device targeted for EV inverter applications.
Table I provides a comparison of key parameters between the VisIC D
3GaN tested in this work and its counterparts. The D
3GaN device shows a higher
Vth, a smaller
Qg, lower device capacitance, and a faster switching speed, as compared to the cascode GaN HEMT and SiC MOSFET as well as good surge-energy/short-circuit robustness, which indicates D
3GaN an attractive candidate for high-power EV powertrain inverters and other power applications. [TABLE1]
