Low Voltage GaN-Based Gate Driver to Increase Switching Speed of Paralleled 650 V E-mode GaN HEMTs

Using GaN HEMTs in high current applications, such as pulsed power modulators for particle accelerator systems, requires the parallelization of multiple devices. In order to achieve a dynamically balanced current distribution between the parallel devices, synchronized gate voltages are crucial. Furthermore, the high switching speeds, which are often required in pulsed power systems, requires a high driving current capability and fast rise/fall times of the gate driver. Therefore, this paper presents a gate driver, based on a low voltage GaN HEMT half bridge, for driving four paralleled 650 V e-mode GaN HEMTs in a low inductive switching cell design.