A simple behavioral electro-thermal model of GaN FETs for SPICE circuit simulation

This paper develops a behavioral electro-thermal model of GaN FETs in SPICE environment for power-electronic circuit simulation. The model couples an available GaN FET electrical model with a thermal RC network for junction temperature estimation, while using modification circuits between the gate driver and device to consider thermal impacts on device performance. Both static and switching characteristics of the developed model are compared with those from the original electrical model. To demonstrate the performance and functionality of the developed electro-thermal model in circuit simulation studies, it is implemented in a boost converter as a benchmark system. Finally, a Double Pulse Tester (DPT) circuit is built and the performance of the developed model is compared with experimental results.