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The Growing Ecosystem for eGaN FET

Power Conversion
技术分享GaN技术杂谈 - Rick Pierson
五月 18, 2019
() () ()

Prologue
eGaN® FET-based power conversion systems offer higher efficiency, increased power density, and
lower overall system cost than Si-based alternatives. These advantageous characteristics have
spurred the presence of an ever-increasing ecosystem (/epc/Products
/eGaNDriversandControllers.aspx) of power electronics components such as gate drivers,

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controllers, and passive components that specifically enhance eGaN FET (/epc/Products
/eGaNFETsandICs.aspx) performance. Some examples of eGaN FETs are shown in figure 1.

Figure 1: Examples of eGaN FETs ranging from 7 mΩ through 120 mΩ and from 100 V
through 350 V

Overview of the eGaN FET ecosystem

The eGaN FET ecosystem can be broken down into three main categories: 1) gate driver, 2)
controllers and 3) passive components. A typical synchronous buck converter
(/epc/DesignSupport/ToolsandCalculators/GaNFETSelectionToolforBuckConverters.aspx), as
shown in figure 2, highlights these various components. The requirements for these components
are driven by the characteristics of eGaN FETs (/epc/DesignSupport/ApplicationNotes.aspx), such
as small footprint, fast switching, tight gate voltage requirement, and high-frequency capability.

Figure 2: Circuit schematic of a typical synchronous eGaN FET based Buck converter,
highlighting critical components in the eGaN FET ecosystem

Gate drivers for eGaN FETs

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The gate driver IC is crucial for maximizing the switching speed capability of eGaN FETs. To be
compatible with eGaN FETs, the gate driver must have a suitable UVLO for 5 V drive, low pull-up
and pull-down resistances, small footprint, and isolation with sufficient common-mode transient
immunity (CMTI) to withstand the high dv/dt. Other beneficial features of some eGaN compatible
drivers include integrated voltage regulators, bootstrap management, and very narrow pulse width
capability. Table 1 shows some examples of low side gate drivers suitable for use with eGaN FETs
and table 2 similarly shows half-bridge gate drivers.

Part Includes
Manufacturer Key Feature Application Example
Number LDO

Texas Instruments
LM5114 No General purpose Contact EPC
(http://www.ti.com/)

Suitable for use in a EPC9081 (/epc/Products

Texas Instruments UCC27611 Yes half bridge with a /DemoBoards
digital isolator /EPC9081.aspx)

Ultra-fast,1 ns pulse
Texas Instruments LMG1020 No Contact EPC
width

Integrated adjustable
uPI (https://www.upi-
uP1964 Yes drive voltage —
semi.com/)
regulator

IXYS Dual driver, suitable

IXD_604 No —
(https://www.ixys.com/) for large FETs

Table 1: eGaN FETs compatible low side gate drivers

Working
Bootstrap CMTI Application
Manufacturer Part Number Voltage Input
Management (V/ns) Example
(V)

EPC9078
LM5113- (/epc/Products
Texas Instruments 100 Yes Lo & Hi 50
Q1(NRND)*‡ /DemoBoards
/EPC9078.aspx)

EPC9078
(/epc/Products
Texas Instruments LMG1205*‡ 100 Yes Lo & Hi 50
/DemoBoards
/EPC9078.aspx)

EPC9078
(/epc/Products
uPI uP1966A*‡ 80 Yes Lo & Hi —
/DemoBoards
/EPC9078.aspx)

uPI uP1966B* 80 Yes PWM — —

* Footprint compatible ‡ Pin compatible

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Working
Bootstrap CMTI Application
Manufacturer Part Number Voltage Input
Management (V/ns) Example
(V)

pSemi PE29101 100 Yes PWM — Contact EPC

EPC9204
(/epc/Products
pSemi PE29102 100 No PWM —
/DemoBoards
/EPC9204.aspx)

Texas Instruments LMG1210 200 Yes PWM 300 Contact EPC

Silicon Labs
Si8274GB1-IM 630 No PWM 200 Contact EPC
(https://www.silabs.com/)

Silicon Labs Si8275GB-IM 630 No Lo & Hi 200 Contact EPC

Analog Devices
Lo or
(https://www.analog.com ADuM4120ARIZ 1092 V No 150 —
Hi
/en/index.html)

Lo or
Analog Devices ADuM4121ARIZ 1118 V No 150 —
Hi

* Footprint compatible ‡ Pin compatible

Table 2: eGaN FET compatible half-bridge gate drivers

For high voltage designs where no single IC solution exists, low side gate drivers can be used in
combination with high voltage signal isolators that feature high CMTI.

Controllers for eGaN FETs

As eGaN FETs push converters to higher frequencies, controllers are required to operate in the
MHz range with higher control bandwidth and tighter regulation for high-frequency converters.
Many controllers also incorporate a gate driver stage, which must meet the same gate driver
requirements previously mentioned. Tables 3 and 4 show eGaN FET compatible controllers for
synchronous rectification and synchronous Buck converter applications, respectively.

Gate Activation / FET DC

Part
Manufacturer Driver Deactivation Voltage Voltage
Number
Included time (V) (V)

NXP (https://www.nxp.com/) TEA1993TS Yes 65 ns / 40 ns 120 38

NXP TEA1995T Yes (Dual) 80 ns / 40 ns 100 38

NXP TEA1998TS Yes 40 ns / 40 ns 60 10.5

ON-Semi
(https://www.onsemi.com NCP4305A Yes 35 ns / 12 ns 200 35
/PowerSolutions/home.do)

ON-Semi NCP4308A Yes 40 ns / 20 ns 150 35

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Table 3: eGaN FET compatible controllers for synchronous rectifiers

Max.
Part Gate Driver Operating Working
Manufacturer Duty
Number Included Frequency Voltage (V)
Cycle

320 kHz - 2.25

Analog Devices LTC7800 Yes 98% 60
MHz

Microchip 270 kHz - 800

MIC2127A Yes 85% 75
(https://www.microchip.com/) kHz

200 kHz - 600

Microchip MIC2103/4 Yes 85% 75
kHz

440 kHz / 2.2 95.6% /

Texas Instruments LM5140-Q1 Yes 65
MHz 78%

200 kHz - 2
Texas Instruments TPS40400 Yes 95% / 75% 20
MHz

300 kHz - 1
Texas Instruments TPS53632G No — 5
MHz

Renesas
100 kHz - 2
(https://www.renesas.com ISL8117A Yes — 60
MHz
/us/en/)

Table 4: eGaN FET compatible controllers for synchronous buck converters

Digital controllers are also useful for many eGaN FET applications, such as multi-phase and multi-
level architectures. Suitable examples include Microchip’s PIC series and TI’s Delfino and Piccolo
series.

Passive components for eGaN FETs

The higher operating frequency of eGaN FET based converters requires passive components
optimized for higher frequencies.

Key metrics in eGaN FET converter performance are power density and efficiency, which includes
the input and output filters. Important inductor selection parameters include low series resistance
(ESR) to minimize conduction loss, low core loss, and low parasitic capacitance. Vishay’s IHLP
series are well suited to meet these criteria.

Suitable ceramic capacitor selection for the bypass/decoupling are available from multiple vendors
where temperature coefficients of X7R or X7S offer excellent results with highest power density.

Conclusion
As eGaN FETs continue to penetrate application designs, the surrounding ecosystem of
supporting components needed to achieve the superior performance of eGaN FETs will also grow.
Today this ecosystem is no longer a limiting factor in GaN-based designs, and designers have a
rapidly increasing number of gate drivers, controllers, and passive component options to choose
from.

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