A Comparative Study on Hall Plate Topologies in p-GaN Technology

Gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors are being increasingly used in high-power and high-frequency electronic systems due to their high breakdown field, high carrier density, and good thermal conductivity. Despite these advantages, system durability of GaN-based power systems is hindered by the necessity to work at variable operating conditions. The necessary real-time monitoring of the load current is normally implemented by using external shunt resistors, yet the implementation of GaN-based isolated current sensor would be beneficial to the final power system in terms of space occupation as well as cost. This letter describes the implementation of two Hall-effect devices in p-type GaN (p-GaN) technology, which can potentially be used as integrated current sensors in GaN monolithic implementation. These devices are experimentally characterized and compared in terms of sensitivity, offset, and input resistance. Some nonideality effects are also outlined, identifying future research directions.