GaN based High Frequency Power Electronic Interfaces: Challenges, Opportunities, and Research Roadmap

Many industrial applications demand high-efficiency and high-power density power electronic interfaces (PEI), resulting in adoption of emerging wide band gap (WBG) and ultra-wide band gap (UWBG) semiconductor devices i.e. Silicon Carbide (SiC), Gallium Nitride (GaN), Diamond, Gallium Oxide (Ga
²
O
³
), and Aluminum Gallium Nitride (AlGaN). As GaN devices continue to mature, there exist a need to collect the state-of-the-art technologies on the properties of these devices and their ability to change the landscape of PEI for achieving MHz switching frequency. This paper presents a review of existing modeling, switching techniques, and active gate drive circuits for GaN devices towards miniaturization of PEI. These topics are chosen as the traditional techniques are no longer meeting the demand for designing GaN-based high frequency PEI, specifically the issues involving gate drive optimal design and minimizing the electromagnetic interface (EMI) encounters and remedies. Existing techniques in literature are reviewed and categorized to explain the current state of GaN-based high frequency PEI. Through an in-depth presentation of the research in this field, a clear connection between the current research and future trends is created. This is culminated in the creation of a future research roadmap presenting the opportunities of GaN-based PEI, the challenges to be overcome in research, and the expected outcome of fully mature GaN. An experimental test of a candidate GaN-based half-bridge is presented that is demonstrating some of the highlighted existing challenges towards achieving high frequency PEI.