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characteristics-slide8

The last part of the performance picture is that of the so-called “body diode”. Because EPC’s eGaN FET structure is a purely lateral device it does not have the parasitic bipolar junction common to silicon MOSFETs. As such, reverse bias, or diode, operation has a different mechanism but similar function. The forward drop of this diode versus current is seen in the attached figure. With zero bias from gate to source, there is an absence of electrons in the region under the gate. As the drain voltage is decreased, a positive bias on the gate is created relative to the drift region, injecting electrons under the gate. Once the gate threshold is reached, there will be sufficient electrons under the gate to form a conductive channel. The benefit of this mechanism is that there are no minority carriers involved in conduction, and therefore no reverse-recovery losses.

PTM Published on: 2010-10-06