Gate driver IC for enhancement mode GaN power transistors with senseFET reverse conduction detection circuit

Abstract

Dead-times are necessary in switching output stage to avoid shoot-through current between the high side (HS) and the low side (LS) power transistors. However, excessively long dead-times can lead to unwanted reverse conduction and power loss. Sensing the duration of reverse conductions are especially difficult for high-voltage enhancement mode (e-mode) gallium nitride (GaN) HEMTs due to their fast switching speed. High-precision sensing circuits are required for dead-time correction as the load current changes and to withstand large voltage swings. Traditional CMOS-based sensing circuits (e.g. standard logic gates) are not suitable for GaN-based converters as they can only handle limited voltage ranges. In addition, severe undershoots (up to −4 V) may damage the sensing circuit. Here, a gate driver IC for e-mode GaN power output stages capable of detecting the presence of reverse conduction with a best resolution of 0.66 ns, a dead-time adjustment resolution of 0.33 ns, and with on-chip closed-loop control is presented. In addition, a novel reverse conduction sensing circuit that can accommodate the large voltage swings at the switching node (SW) is also described.