IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications in Asia (WiPDA Asia 2018)

321 / 2017-12-08 18:29:56

Aging of GaN GIT under repetitive short-circuit tests

Plenary track > Harsh environment (e.g. high temperature) operation and reliability

For the application in power electronic, GaN-based transistor shows a great potential, fast switching, low on-resistance, high temperature and high voltage capability. In order to reduce the complexity of the command systems, the depletion-mode GaN-based transistor should be modified to be normally-off using a specific techniques . This paper presents repetititive short-circuit aging tests of a 600V normally-off GaN-based transistor named GIT (Gate Injection Transistor) under the drain voltage of 35V and a long short-circuit duration of 4ms with a repetitive cycle of 1s. The dissipated energy for one short-circuit pulse is 420mJ/mm2, which is superior than that in others references. The device has been sustained under the repetitive short-circuit pulses until the destruction happens. The electrical parameters like on-state resistance Rdson, saturation current Isat, leakage current Idss, Igss and threshold gate voltage Vth have been characterized for every 8,000 short-circuits by stopping the test bench in order to determine the indicators of the aging test.