Ultra-fast switching of GaN transistors for nanosecond-pulse generation using GaN HEMTs-based drivers

Due to smaller parasitic components such as a smaller gate charge, gallium nitride high-electron mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs) can be used for applications that require ultra-fast switching including plasma generation, where the faster rise time of the applied high-voltage and high-current pulses leads to a more efficient yield. The gate driver circuit and its implementation mainly dominate the turn-on process of the GaN transistors. Therefore, this paper investigates two different gate drivers previously used for silicon and silicon carbide transistors, to reduce the turn-on time of GaN transistors. In the proposed methods, the switching performance of the main 650 V transistor has been evaluated in pulsed operation with a resistive load of 610 V and 107 A. The obtained rise time results for the single-IC and voltage-source gate drivers are 4.23 ns and 2.92 ns, respectively.