Paralleling 650 V/150 A GaN HEMTs for Cryogenically Cooled Solid-State Circuit Breaker Applications

The significant on-resistance reduction, the faster switching speed, and the capability of being operated at a higher current at cryogenic temperature make Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) attractive to cryogenically cooled power electronics applications. Moreover, the positive temperature coefficient of on-resistance makes GaN HEMTs suitable for the parallel operation. In this article, the design of a solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) with two 650V/150A GaN HEMTs in parallel is presented. The designed SSCB circuit is tested at cryogenic temperature (<-153°C). -The results demonstrate the capability of the SSCB module with paralleled GaN-HEMTs to interrupt high current (1000A) at cryogenic temperature.