Cost-Efficient Bidirectional ESD Protection for 650-V GaN Power HEMT With Co-Packaged Transient Voltage Suppressor

A cost-efficient electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection solution for the gate-to-source terminal of GaN-based power high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) is proposed. High ESD robustness of the GaN-based power HEMT has been successfully achieved by co-packaging a transient voltage suppressor (TVS) inside the package together, while a 32.6% reduction in cost as comparing to that with on-die bidirectional ESD protection circuit can be gained. Human-body-model (HBM) ESD level exceeding ±7 kV has been verified, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed solution for protecting the gate-to-source terminal of GaN-based power HEMT.