Investigation of Gallium Nitride Devices in High-Frequency LLC Resonant Converters

Newly emerged gallium nitride (GaN) devices feature ultrafast switching speed and low on-state resistance that potentially provide significant improvements for power converters. This paper investigates the benefits of GaN devices in an LLC resonant converter and quantitatively evaluates GaN devices' capabilities to improve converter efficiency. First, the relationship of device and converter design parameters to the device loss is established based on an analytical model of LLC resonant converter operating at the resonance. Due to the low effective output capacitance of GaN devices, the GaN-based design demonstrates about 50% device loss reduction compared with the Si-based design. Second, a new perspective on the extra transformer winding loss due to the asymmetrical primary-side and secondary-side current is proposed. The device and design parameters are tied to the winding loss based on the winding loss model in the finite element analysis (FEA) simulation. Compared with the Si-based design, the winding loss is reduced by 18% in the GaN-based design. Finally, in order to verify the GaN device benefits experimentally, 400- to 12-V, 300-W, 1-MHz GaN-based and Si-based LLC resonant converter prototypes are built and tested. One percent efficiency improvement, which is 24.8% loss reduction, is achieved in the GaN-based converter.

I. Introduction

The ever-increasing demands in the energy conversion market propel power converters toward high efficiency and high power density. High-performance power semiconductor devices are indispensable to address higher efficiency and density requirements. Newly emerged wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) devices, provide desirable features of low specific on-state resistance, low junction capacitance, and increased junction temperature. They are promising candidates for the future high-efficiency and high-density power converters [1], [2].