Influence of Driver Integration on GaN Enhancement Mode Transistor Performance

GaN components are finding their way into power electronic applications as their increased switching speed allows for augmented switching frequencies, leading to higher power densities. However, raising the switching speed causes parasitic effects degrading part of the components superior performance. The main problem is the gate loop inductance which should be as small as possible. A low inductance can be achieved by integrating the driver and GaN component into the same IC. In this paper, a practical implementation of an enhancement mode GaN device with integrated driver IC and external driver is tested and comparisons between the performance of these devices in a boost converter will be reported. This allows to evaluate and compare efficiency and the influence of parasitic effects in the driver loop of a power converter.