US 11,677,396 B2
Hybrid power stage and gate driver circuit
Juncheng Lu, Kanata (CA); and Larry Spaziani, Chelmsford, MA (US)
Assigned to GaN Systems Inc., Kanata (CA)
Filed by GaN Systems Inc., Ottawa (CA)
Filed on Dec. 16, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/123,316.
Prior Publication US 2022/0190825 A1, Jun. 16, 2022
Int. Cl. H03K 17/687 (2006.01); H03K 17/567 (2006.01)
CPC H03K 17/6871 (2013.01) [H03K 17/567 (2013.01); H03K 2217/0063 (2013.01); H03K 2217/0072 (2013.01); H03K 2217/0081 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A power semiconductor switching stage comprising:
a hybrid power semiconductor switching device comprising: a high-side switch and a low-side switch connected in series in a half-bridge configuration, wherein:
the high-side switch is a Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor power switching device implemented with at least one transistor, wherein every transistor of the high-side switch is an enhancement-mode GaN power transistor having a source, a drain and a gate; and
the low-side switch is a Silicon (Si) semiconductor power switching device implemented with at least one transistor, wherein every transistor of the low-side switch is an enhancement-mode Si MOSFET having a source, a drain and a gate;
the drain of every GaN power transistor is connected to a DC bus, the source of every GaN power transistor is connected to a switch node, the drain of every Si MOSFET is connected to the switch node, and the source of every Si MOSFET is connected to a source bus;
a MOSFET half-bridge gate driver comprising a high-side driver and a low-side driver;
a gate drive output of the low-side driver being connected to the gate of every Si MOSFET through a first gate drive circuit comprising a gate resistor to provide a gate drive of a first voltage range for driving every Si MOSFET;
a gate drive output of the high-side driver being connected to the gate of every GaN power transistor through a second gate drive circuit comprising a gate resistor and a voltage level shift circuit to provide a gate drive of a second voltage range for driving every GaN power transistor.