by Kiran Bernard, Renesas Electronics America, Palm Bay, Fla., How2Power Today, Apr 15 2022
Focus:
GaN power devices provide advantages over traditional silicon, allowing power management
solutions to achieve higher efficiencies in a smaller PCB footprint, while also being
inherently radiation hard to total ionizing dose (TID). Still, their performance with
respect to single event effects (SEE) requires further investigation. This article will
discuss the SEE tests performed on three power GaN FETs (40 V, 100 V and 200 V) from
Renesas Electronics. These tests, which measured leakage current (IDSS) under various VDSS
and LET conditions, were performed to determine the susceptibility of these devices to
single-event burnout due to a heavy ion-induced increase in leakage current. After
presenting the test results, a method is proposed for a worst-case analysis (WCA) of the
increase in IDSS due to SEE under practical operating conditions for applications with low
earth and geostationary orbits. This analysis is then used to assess the vulnerability of
the three GaN power devices to SEE in real-world conditions.
What you’ll learn:
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