ESE Seminar: “High-Frequency Power Conversion with Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors”

With the commercialization of wide-bandgap power semiconductors, multi-MHz switching frequencies are more compelling and critical to meet new applications demanding leaps in power density and efficiency. In the past, studies of these converters reported significant gaps between measured and modeled performance, often attributed to dynamic RDS,ON in GaN HEMTs. In particular, the power semiconductors – which often drive thermal constraints – dissipated much more power than expected, rendering designs based on simulated values unusable. In soft-switched converters, which dominate at MHz frequencies, the semiconductor’s output capacitor is resonantly charged and discharged once per switching cycle. Recently, multiple papers have found significant losses from this process in silicon and wide-bandgap devices, explaining the unexpected power dissipation. With these losses known, the MHz-frequency design space can be reopened – if designers are careful about semiconductor selection. In this talk, I will discuss how to select the right device across material (GaN, SiC, or Si), device technology (superjunction or trench), size (lower RDS,ON is not always better), and, in some cases, manufacturer. Further, I will show how this selection drives thermal design, input voltage selection, and novel circuit topologies in a variety of high-performance demonstrations from 6.78 MHz all the way to 40.68 MHz.