GaN-based power semiconductor devices are ideally suited for high-efficiency power converters due to their superior material properties [1]. GaN HEMTs have been incorporated into numerous commercial power supply designs, catering to a broad range of applications, by leveraging the technology’s fast-switching capability and low losses [2].
Commercially available devices from various manufacturers typically offer voltage ratings below 200 V and in the 600 V to 650 V range. Beyond 650 V, only a few manufacturers have released GaN HEMTs with a rated voltage of 900 V [3], [4], [5], [6]. Commercially available GaN HEMT technologies built on a silicon substrate are very difficult to scale to voltages beyond 900 V due to the need for extremely thick buffer layers, which introduce significant processing challenges [7]. Because of this, applications needing wide-bandgap power devices with 1200 V rating and beyond have been constrained to using SiC switches.
However, GaN enables much higher switching frequency compared to SiC and can provide a pathway to meeting the increasing power density required by some applications, such as artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, while maintaining high efficiency. Additionally, GaN offers the benefit of a significantly lower cost when compared to SiC [8]. GaN HEMTs built by Power Integrations with its proprietary technology offer a unique advantage of being capable of achieving a very high voltage rating in a practical device, making it a readily available and compelling alternative to SiC at 1200 V and beyond.
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