Time:07/31/2009 10:00AM

Place:A429

GaN Smart Power IC Technology

                             Prof. Kevin Jing Chen

Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Email: eekjchen@ust.hk

Abstract: Wide-bandgap GaN-based semiconductor materials are attracting considerable attention as the preferred material for power electronics applications, owning to their superior properties including high breakdown electric-field, high carrier density, high electron mobility and high saturation velocity. GaN power devices can be operated at high voltage and high current levels with high switching frequencies, and their inherent high-temperature operating capability could significantly reduce the burden on expensive cooling systems used in advanced power converters. Meanwhile, these high-performance devices do exhibit strong temperature-dependences as the intrinsic carrier mobility is affected by the temperature-sensitive phonon scattering. It is thus desirable to develop GaN smart power IC technology with which we can implement on-chip power conditioning and protection circuits that promise to provide optimized performance, increased functionality and enhanced reliability.

In this talk, the technologies for implementing GaN smart power ICs will be introduced based on the large-size, low-cost and highly scalable GaN-on-Si platform. High-voltage normally-off power transistors and HEMT-compatible rectifiers are successfully integrated to realize the first GaN single-chip boost converter. Key analog functional blocks such as voltage reference generators and comparators are also successfully demonstrated.   

Biography: Dr Chen received the B.S. degree from Peking University in 1988 and the PhD degree from University of Maryland, College Park, USA in 1993. From 1994 to 1995, he was a research engineer in NTT LSI laboratories, Atsugi, Japan, engaging in the research and development of functional quantum effect devices and heterojunction FET's (HFET's). From 1996 to 1998, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong. Dr. Chen then joined the wireless semiconductor division of Agilent Technologies, Inc., in 1999 working on RF power amplifiers used in dual-band GSM/DCS wireless handsets. Dr. Chen joined Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Nov. 2000, where he is currently an associate professor in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering. At HKUST, he has carried out research in wide bandgap III-nitride devices, silicon-based microwave passive components and 3D through-wafer via interconnects technology, GaN-based MEMS devices, and multi-band reconfigurable microwave filters. Currently, his group is focused on developing GaN device technologies for power management and high-temperature electronics applications. Prof. Chen has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications in international technical journals and conference proceedings. Prof. Chen is a senior member of IEEE and a distinguished lecturer of IEEE Electron Device Society.