Current Source Gate Driver for GaN E-HEMT in Hard-Switched High Power Applications

There are two types of current source or resonant gate drivers: with zero and with non-zero initial inductor current respectively. The first type is better known in power electronics where the idea is to recover the gate driver power loss. This idea is useful in high frequency low power applications where the gate driver power loss is not negligible. The second type is not very well known in power electronics where it can reduce the switching power loss by driving the device at a higher gate current. The switching power loss is the main source of losses in hard-switched high power applications. Therefore, in this paper a current source gate driver with non-zero initial inductor current is applied for a 650 V 60 A GaN E-HEMT. Then, a power loss comparison is performed with a voltage source gate driver for the same device. The OrCAD PSpice simulation results validate the switching power loss reduction in the case of the current source gate driver.