Cascode transistor circuit, circuit arrangement including the cascode transistor circuit, and power conversion device

Abstract

The present invention proposes a cascode transistor circuit with a main power transistor and a cascode MOSFET formed as an integrated circuit, the main power transistor and the integrated circuit are packaged to form the cascode transistor circuit. Control and protection circuits are integrated into the integrated circuit, and storage capacitors provide the energy source to drive the control and protection circuits. A charging circuit is also integrated into the IC for charging the storage capacitor.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to cascaded semiconductor devices. The present invention particularly relates to depletion mode transistors, such as gallium nitride (GaN) transistors (eg, GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs)) or silicon carbide (SiC) field effect transistors. Background technique [0002] The present invention is particularly concerned with GaN power transistors. Basic GaN power semiconductors are depletion-mode (normally-on) devices that rely on Schottky gates. However, this has the disadvantage that, depending on the environment, larger currents can flow into the gate, e.g. larger negative currents can occur in the application (i.e. current goes from source to drain instead of drain to source )in the case of. Because this can easily destroy the gate structure, it must be prevented. [0003] This can be done in the application circuit, for example by adding anti-parallel diodes, but this is disadvantageous since convention...

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Problems solved by technology

However, this has the disadvantage that, depending on the environment, larger currents can flow into the gate, e.g. larger negative currents can occur in the application (i.e. current goes from source to drain instead of drain to source )in the case of

[0003] This can be done in the application circuit e.g. by adding an anti-parallel diode, but this is disadvantageous since conventional silicon MOSFETs do not require this additional circuit

Therefore, this makes it impossible to interchange existing MOSFETs with GaN power transistors

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