GaN HEMT Improves Overall Performance in ZVS Totem Pole PFC Converters

Power factor correction (PFC) stages are fundamental in AC-DC high-power converters for telecom applications and servers for large datacenters. With the arrival of power gallium nitride (GaN) technologies, PFC converters are gaining in terms of superior efficiency, increased switching frequency and higher power density, compared to the existing solutions based on silicon (Sj) power MOSFETs. This paper compares the performance of silicon power MOSFETS with GaN devices. The two different technologies are compared based on a 2kW 3-channel, zero-voltage switching (ZVS), interleaved, totem pole PFC converter with hysteresis current control. Moreover, the paper provides the experimental results of efficiency, power factor (PF), input current total harmonic distortion (THDi) and thermal measurements.