GaN-on-Si Power HEMTs for Automotive: Current Status and Perspectives

In this paper we present a comprehensive review and outlook of gallium nitride power devices for next-generation power electronics, with focus on the emerging automotive field. The analysis of different markets available GaN-on-Si HEMTs will draw the present state of this technology for power applications and automotive, highlighting the different available topologies and their key characteristics, together with a comparison with Si and SiC. Furthermore, we will investigate the present and future of GaN devices in the different building blocks composing an automotive system (power train inverter, on board charger, off board charger, DC/DC converters, ADAS, infotainment). In the end, we will highlight the present reliability issues and limits of GaN-on-Si power devices (threshold voltage instabilities, dynamic on-resistance, breakdown limitation).