Can Silicon Qualification Standards be Applied to GaN HEMT Power Converters? (.PDF Download)

The end markets serviced by the semiconductor industry are rapidly adopting power semiconductor devices based on wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, including silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride on silicon (GaN-on-Si). Initially, much of the effort from manufacturers using GaN materials has been in the development of high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) for RF applications such as radar.

More recently GaN-on-Si HEMT technology has been developed for power-conversion applications. This new class of power transistor delivers significant efficiency gains over existing Si power MOSFETs. This has direct benefits in terms of the total cost of ownership for power conversion. GaN devices are already employed in such applications and are being used today in front-end PFC circuits in telecom rectifier systems.