Origin of Soft-Switching Output Capacitance Loss in Cascode GaN HEMTs at High Frequencies
Qihao Song, Ruizhe Zhang, Qiang Li, Yuhao Zhang
Abstract
Output capacitance ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">C</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">OSS</sub> ) loss ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DISS</sub> ) is produced when the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">C</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">OSS</sub> of a power device is charged and discharged, which ideally should be a lossless process. This loss was recently revealed to be a crucial concern for GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) in high-frequency soft-switching applications. Among various GaN devices, the composite-type, cascode GaN HEMT was reported to show the largest <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DISS</sub> with a voltage dependence distinct from discrete GaN HEMTs. However, the physical origins of the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DISS</sub> in cascode GaN HEMTs remain unclear. This article fills this gap by identifying three loss components and, for the first time, experimentally quantifying them in the multi-MHz resonant switching. These loss components include: a) the avalanche loss of Si <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">mosfet</small> ; b) the intrinsic <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DISS</sub> of GaN HEMT; and c) the Si avalanche-induced GaN turn- <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small> loss. The last component was found to dominate <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DISS</sub> at high voltage. By eliminating the Si avalanche and the associated loss components (a) and (c), the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">DISS</sub> of cascode GaN HEMTs can be reduced by up to 75% at the price of an increase in output charge and switching transition time. These results provide new physical insights and practical guidelines to trim the soft-switching loss of cascode GaN HEMTs in high-frequency applications.