This one, the 600V MasterGaN4, includes two symmetrical 650V GaN power transistors with 225mΩ on-resistance and is aimed at applications up to 200W.
The device joins the increasing number of devices from various manufacturers that side-steps the often tricky GaN gate drive design process.
“MasterGaN4 simplifies design using wide-bandgap GaN power semiconductors by taking away the complex gate-control and circuit-layout challenges,” according to the company. It “is ideally suited to use in symmetrical half-bridge topologies as well as soft-switching topologies such as active clamp fly-back and active clamp forward. With inputs tolerant of voltages from 3.3V to 15V, it can be controlled by connecting the packages directly to Hall-effect sensors or a CMOS device such as a microcontroller, DSP, or FPGA”.
- MasterGaN1 150mΩ 10A high-side and low-side
OLED TV, LED lighting, adapters, telecoms, servers, 5G comms - MasterGaN2 225mΩ 6.5A high-side 150mΩ 10A low-side
Fast charging, wireless charging, ac-dc adapters, USB power delivery - MasterGaN4 225mΩ 6.5A high-side and low-side
LED lighting, PCs, 5G comms
Operation can span -40 to 125°C and 4.75 to 9.5V.
The host controller needs to supply separate digital signals for the high-side and low-side channels.
Built-in protection includes gate-driver interlocks, low-side and high-side under-voltage lock-out and over-temperature. There is also a dedicated shutdown pin.
An evaluation board, EVALMASTERGAN4, allows the chip to be driven directly with a complementary signals or an adjustable deadtime generator is provided to run it from a single PWM. “The board gives users the flexibility to apply a separate input signal or PWM signal, insert an external bootstrap diode, separate the logic and gate-driver supply rails, and to use a low-side shunt Resistor for peak-current-mode topologies,” said ST.
MasterGaN4 product page is here
The eval board data brief is here