Study on the Application of Gallium Nitride Transistors in Power Electronics

Renan R. Duarte; Guilherme F. Ferreira; Marco A. Dalla Costa; Carlos H. Barriquello; J. Marcos Alonso

doi:10.18618/REP.2018.1.2734

Authors

Renan R. Duarte Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria - RS, Brazil
Guilherme F. Ferreira Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria - RS, Brazil
Marco A. Dalla Costa Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria - RS, Brazil
Carlos H. Barriquello Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria - RS, Brazil
J. Marcos Alonso Universidad de Oviedo, Gijón, Spain

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18618/REP.2018.1.2734

Keywords:

Gallium Nitride, GaN, GaN transistors, LEDs, switching power supply

Abstract

Wide bandgap semiconductors have emerged as an attractive option for silicon (Si) replacement in the recent years. Among the new materials, gallium nitride (GaN) has been considered as the most promising candidate. This paper presents an overview of the GaN technology in power electronics. The review focuses on the main aspects of GaN transistors, such as electrical, thermal and economical characteristics. A comparison between Si and GaN switching devices in a family of synchronous buck converters designed for LED lighting applications is also presented. This comparison was performed using synchronous buck converters, designed under same parameters, at five different switching frequencies, ranging from 100 kHz to 1 MHz. Efficiency and temperatures were recorded. GaN based converters presented higher efficiency and lower operating temperatures in all cases, with a maximum efficiency of 96.8% and a minimum of 94.5%. Besides, Si-based converters exhibited a higher performance degradation as switching frequency and dead time increase.

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Author Biographies

Renan R. Duarte, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria - RS, Brazil

born in Santo Augusto, Brazil, in 1992. He received his bachelor and master degree in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Maria in 2015 and 2017, respectively. He is currently working towards his Doctorate degree at the same institution. He is member of the IEEE and is currently the vice-chair of the Student Branch and IAS Student Branch Chapter of IEEE at the Federal University of Santa Maria.

Guilherme F. Ferreira, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria - RS, Brazil

born in Quaraí, Brazil, in 1994. He is currently working toward the B.S. degree in electrical engineering at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria, Brazil. He took part in industrial activities with STEMAC Group of Generators, Porto Alegre, Brazil, and since 2011, he has been with the Electronic Ballast Research Group (GEDRE), UFSM, where he is currently a Researcher. His research activities include the illumination field, mainly involving the use of LEDs.

Marco A. Dalla Costa, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria - RS, Brazil

born in Santa Maria, Brazil, in 1978. He received the B.S. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil, in 2002 and 2004, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree (with honors) in electrical engineering from the University of Oviedo, Gijón, Spain, in 2008. From 2008 to 2009 he was Associate Professor at the Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Brazil. Since 2009 he is Associate Professor at the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil. Dr. Dalla Costa is coauthor of more than 50 journal papers and more than 100 international conference papers, he is holder of 2 Spanish patents, and he is the Vice-Chair of the Industrial Lighting and Displays Committee (ILDC) from IAS-IEEE. He also serves as reviewer for several IEEE Journal and Conferences in the field of power electronics. His research interests include dc/dc converters, power factor correction, lighting systems, high-frequency electronic ballasts, discharge-lamp modeling, light-emitting-diode systems, renewable energy systems, and solid state transformers.

Carlos H. Barriquello, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria - RS, Brazil

born in Três Passos, RS, Brazil, in 1984. He received the B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Federal University of Santa Maria in 2007, 2009 and 2012, respectively. Since 2012, he has been Adjunct Professor in the Electronics and Computing Department at the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil. Also, he has been a Researcher with the Electronic Ballast Research Group (GEDRE), Federal University of Santa Maria, since 2008. His research interests include embedded and real-time systems, wireless sensor and actuator networks, lighting systems, and visible light communications.

J. Marcos Alonso, Universidad de Oviedo, Gijón, Spain

received the M. Sc. Degree and Ph. D. both in electrical engineering from the University of Oviedo, Spain, in 1990 and 1994 respectively. Since 2007, he is a full Professor of the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Oviedo. Prof. Alonso is co-author of more than 370 journal and conference publications, including 90 publications in highly referenced journals. His research interests include electronic lighting, dc-dc converters, power factor correction, resonant inverters and power electronics in general. He is the holder of 7 Spanish patents. Prof. Alonso holds 7 IEEE awards. He serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics on Power Electronics. He is currently Chair of the IEEE IAS Industrial Lighting and Displays Committee. He is also serving as Chair of the IAS Awards Department and IAS Newsletter Editor.

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