Characterization of turn off losses in Gallium Nitride switching devices-based power electronics converters

Abstract

This thesis focuses on design and development of half bridge single phase inverter using Gallium Nitride switches. It includes step by step design of the hardware including PCB design, hardware test setup and its implementation. The thesis discusses double pulse test which is used to study the dynamic characteristics of the Gallium Nitride switches. Common mode noise is also measured at the same time. The effect of change in gate resistance on the switching losses and EMI is observed. Thus, the objective is to study the tradeoff between switching losses of the switches and electromagnetic interference in half bridge inverter.

After successful implementation of the setup, the results obtained from the double pulse test were analyzed and findings were addressed. These findings can be used as a reference in order to select optimized values of gate driver components and parameters of the switches for a desired application. This approach will help in power electronic applications where priority is given to either minimizing the switching losses or EMI.