Gate driver for the active thermal control of a DC/DC GaN-based converter

Abstract

Wide-Band-Gap power semiconductors based on SiC and GaN offer some significant advantages compared to Si-devices, in particular higher switching speed and higher operating temperature. These features offer potentially increased power density, which makes the temperature management critical especially for the PCB and components to which the GaN is connected. In this paper, an active gate driver with active thermal control is implemented and can be used to alter the losses of a DC/DC buck converter based on GaN transistors, with the aim of reducing the thermal cycling thus improving the converter's lifetime.