An Ultra-Fast Short Circuit Protection Solution for E-mode GaN HEMTs

Li, He; Lyu, Xintong; Wang, Ke; Abdullah, Yousef; Hu, Boxue; Yang, Zhi; Wang, Jin; Liu, Liming; Bala, Sandeep

doi:10.1109/wipdaasia.2018.8734686

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The protection circuit should detect the fault and clear it within 100~200 ns. This is difficult to achieve by conventional desaturation circuits due to their long response time [157] and the false protection drawn by the high dv/dt [158]. Recently, ultrafast short-circuit protection circuits for GaN HEMTs have been demonstrated by multiple groups [158]- [162].…”

Section: A Short Circuit Robustnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability, Reliability, and Robustness of GaN Power Devices: A Review

Kozak

Zhang

Porter

et al. 2023

IEEE Trans. Power Electron.

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Gallium nitride (GaN) devices are revolutionarily advancing the efficiency, frequency, and form factor of power electronics. However, the material composition, architecture and physics of many GaN devices are significantly different from silicon and silicon carbide devices. These distinctions result in many unique stability, reliability and robustness issues facing GaN power devices. This paper reviews the current understanding of these issues, particularly those related to dynamic switching, and their impacts on system performance. Instead of delving into reliability physics, this paper intends to provide power electronics engineers the necessary information for deploying GaN devices in existing and emerging applications, as well as provide references for the qualification evaluations of GaN power devices. The issues covered in this paper include the dynamic instability of device parameters (e.g., on-resistance, threshold voltage, output capacitance), the device robustness in avalanche, overvoltage and short-circuit conditions, the device's switching reliability and lifetime, as well as the device's ruggedness under radiation and extreme (cryogenic and elevated) temperatures. Knowledge gaps and immediate research opportunities in the relevant fields are also discussed. 1

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Section: A Short Circuit Robustnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability, Reliability, and Robustness of GaN Power Devices: A Review

Kozak

Zhang

Porter

et al. 2023

IEEE Trans. Power Electron.

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“…Recently, research has been conducted on short circuit detection methods based on the DC bus voltage drop. In [6,22,23], short-circuit protection is performed based on the DC bus voltage, which is the voltage across the high-side device drain and low-side device source. The DC bus voltage exhibits an instantaneous voltage drop when a short circuit occurs because a high di/dt current flows through parasitic inductances present in the power loop.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This voltage drop is used to detect whether a short circuit has occurred, and the response time of the detection circuit can be within hundreds of nanoseconds. In [22,23], the circuit is protected from a short circuit within 280 ns and 370 ns, respectively. However, when using DC bus voltage sensing, the voltage dip caused by the normal switching of the device can result in false short-circuit protection behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highly Reliable Short-Circuit Protection Circuits for Gallium Nitride High-Electron-Mobility Transistors

Kim,

Yoon,

Kim

et al. 2024

Electronics

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This paper presents a circuit for detecting and protecting against short circuits in E-mode gallium nitride high-electron-mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs) and analyzes the protection performance of the circuit. GaN HEMTs possess fast switching characteristics that enable high efficiency and power density in power conversion devices. However, these characteristics also pose challenges in protecting against short circuits and overcurrent situations. The proposed method detects short-circuit events by monitoring an instantaneous drop in the DC bus voltage of a circuit with GaN HEMTs applied and uses a bandpass filter to prevent the malfunction of the short-circuit protection circuit during normal switching and ensure highly reliable operation. Using this method, the short-circuit detection time of E-mode GaN HEMTs can be reduced to 257 ns, successfully protecting the device without malfunctions even in severe short-circuit situations occurring at high DC link voltages.

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“…On the other hand, new fundamental requirements emerged on the design of the gate drivers. Firstly, the short-circuit capability of Silicon Carbide (SiC) based devices is much lower than the one of the traditional silicon devices, therefore faults need to be identified and cleared within a few microseconds [2], [7], [8]. The shortcircuit withstanding time and ratio between the maximum current and rated current of commercial 1.2kV Si IGBTs and SiC MOSFETs from [9] is shown in Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most conventional protection method, the desaturation method, is not efficient in clearing the fault in few microseconds, due to its blanking time before it can react to fault [2], [7], [10]. Thus, new advanced methods have been developed, based on the measurement of the switch's leg voltage [7], the di/dt measurement using a Rogowski coil [4], [8], [11], [12] and the direct measurement of the current that flows through the switch [13]. Secondly, the fast voltage and current transitions of WBG-based switches worsen the Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) in the gate driver [2], [8], [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gate Driver Design for 1.2 kV SiC Module with PCB Integrated Rogowski Coil Protection Circuit

Stecca

Tiftikidis

Soeiro

et al. 2021

2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE)

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Wide band-gap materials, e.g., Silicon Carbide (SiC), allow the realization of power semiconductor with superior performance with respect to the traditional Si-based counterparts. On the other hand they require more stringent short-circuit or over-current clearing time to safeguard the device lifetime.This paper focuses on the analysis, design guidelines and practical implementation of a gate drive circuit incorporating fast short-circuit/over-current protection (< 1µs) based on the device di/dt measurement through PCB-based auxiliary Rogowski coils. The target power module is a industry standard 62mm packaged 1.2kV SiC MOSFET half-bridge. The gate driver protection features are experimentally tested and the target time for the short circuit clearing was satisfied, with the gate driver effectively turning off the switches within 400 ns during a short-circuit test.

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An Ultra-Fast Short Circuit Protection Solution for E-mode GaN HEMTs

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

Stability, Reliability, and Robustness of GaN Power Devices: A Review

Stability, Reliability, and Robustness of GaN Power Devices: A Review

Highly Reliable Short-Circuit Protection Circuits for Gallium Nitride High-Electron-Mobility Transistors

Gate Driver Design for 1.2 kV SiC Module with PCB Integrated Rogowski Coil Protection Circuit

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