ESD Solutions for Discrete 650V Normally-off AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Abstract:
The 650V AlGaN/GaN Schottky gate technology presents a gate structure that can be damaged by ESD discharges. Therefore, discrete power GaN devices can have ESD protection circuits to be used in diverse applications. The use of diodes in series for clamping negative voltages in the gate of HEMT power transistors is discussed. The disadvantage of those solutions is the large area required by ESD diodes and the low breakdown value achieved. To increase the performance of ESD circuits while keeping the circuit consuming low area for a cost-effective solution, two circuits are presented in this paper.