Title :
Temperature measurements of GaN FETs by means of average gate current sensing
Author :
Roschatt, Philipp Marc ; McMahon, Richard A. ; Pickering, Stephen
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Eng., Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Abstract :
Gallium Nitride is a promising technology to increase power density in future DC-DC converter. However, the size and volume of heat sinks and cooling equipment needed will limit the maximum achievable power density. Reducing the cooling effort for volume reduction of the heat sink is an option to increase the power density but requires good knowledge of the junction temperature to avoid overheating. The temperature dependent gate leakage of GaN FETs can be used to estimate the junction temperature during operation. This can be measured by observing the current supplied to the gate drive. The methodology shows how the average current supplied to the gate drive unit follows the device temperature.
Keywords :
DC-DC power convertors; cooling; field effect transistors; gallium compounds; heat sinks; semiconductor junctions; temperature measurement; DC-DC converter; GaN; average gate current sensing; cooling effort reduction; cooling equipment; gallium nitride FET temperature measurement; gate drive unit; heat sink volume reduction; junction temperature estimation; power density; temperature dependent gate leakage; Field effect transistors; Gallium nitride; Junctions; Leakage currents; Logic gates; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors;
Conference_Titel :
Power Electronics and Drive Systems (PEDS), 2015 IEEE 11th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Sydney, NSW
DOI :
10.1109/PEDS.2015.7203469
