A High Efficiency Model-Based Adaptive Dead-Time Control Method for GaN HEMTs Considering Nonlinear Junction Capacitors in Triangular Current Mode Operation

Gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) has the advantages of high switching speed and low ON-resistance, which make it widely used in high-frequency applications to realize high power density. Triangular current mode (TCM) modulation has been used in GaN-based converters to simultaneously achieve high power density and high efficiency through full-range zero voltage switching (ZVS). However, as switching frequency increases, the effect of dead time becomes more significant. Meanwhile, because of the junction capacitors of GaN HEMTs, the optimum dead time changes greatly with the turn-off current. Inappropriate dead time will induce extra loss that goes against the further improvement of power density. In order to minimize the dead-time loss in GaN HEMT-based TCM converter, this article proposes a strategy of adaptive deadtime control. An accurate turn-off transient model is proposed to calculate optimal dead time with consideration of the nonlinear capacitors. Based on this model, a loss model is established to evaluate the effect of dead time involving the short circuit in dead time. A new method of drive signal generation in TCM is proposed to increase the accuracy of dead-time control and reduce the current ripple. By reusing the detection signal in TCM, the adaptive dead-time control is realized without extra sensors. The proposed model is verified by a dual-pulse test, which shows the maximum error between the calculated and the experimental turn-off time is below 3 ns. The proposed adaptive dead-time control is implemented in a GaN HEMT-based boost converter. The experimental results show that the adaptive dead-time control can improve the efficiency over all operation conditions compared with using the fixed dead time, and the total loss is reduced by 26.7% at 800-W load and 70.8% at 50-W load.