Resonant gate driver for normally-on GaN high-electron-mobility transistor

Abstract

Wide bandgap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), are promised materials for next-generation power devices. The authors have recently fabricated a GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT), which is a normally-on device, for power electronics application. However, the power consumption in the constructed gate drive circuit increases when the GaN HEMT is used under higher-frequency operation. A new gate drive circuit with lower power consumption for the normally-on GaN HEMT is strongly required. In this paper, a new resonant gate drive circuit, which is most suitable for the newly fabricated GaN HEMT, is proposed. The validity and high practicability of the proposed resonant gate drive circuit are demonstrated by simulation and experimental results.