A Physics-Based Empirical Model of Dynamic IOFF Under Switching Operation in p-GaN Gate Power HEMTs

In this article, an empirical model of dynamic
off
-state leakage current (
I
_OFF
) under switching operation in
p
-GaN gate high-electron-mobility transistors is established based on its underlying physical mechanism. The impacts of relevant switching conditions, including switching frequency, duty cycle,
off
-state delay time, gate drive voltage, and temperature are all considered in the modeling of dynamic
I
_OFF
. A good agreement between the modeled dynamic
I
_OFF
and experimental results is achieved. Based on this model, the
off
-state power consumption (
E
_OFF
) and
off/on
-state power consumption ratio (
E
_OFF
/
E
_ON
) under dynamic switching operation can be predicted for various switching conditions. As the device worked at a high switching frequency (e.g., 1 MHz and duty cycle: 50%) with a gate drive voltage of 7 V and temperatures from 25 to 150 °C, the
E
_OFF
/
E
_ON
ratio is calculated from 0.53% to 0.07%, which is three to two orders of magnitude higher than what is projected from static
off
-state current characteristics.