GaN power devices for Electric Vehicles State-of-the-art and future perspective

The Electric Vehicles market is looking with increasing interest into the possibility of having power electronics systems that adopt wide band gap semiconductors. The training factor is the size and weight reduction of the overall power system that would follow the use of these semiconductor technologies. Among all wide bandgap semiconductors Gallium Nitride (GaN) is one of the most promising as it would also pave the way to more efficient systems. This paper gives an overview of the power modules in EV/HEV where GaN could be adopted and it focuses on current available lateral and vertical solutions for GaN transistors. The main challenges of these technologies from a device point of view are also discussed. Finally, an example of an available bidirectional on-board charger with GaN devices from Panasonic is given.