Okay, so today I decided to mess around with Gan MOSFETs, ’cause I heard they’re kinda the new hotness. I wanted to see if all the hype was real.
Getting Started
First, I gathered my stuff. Obviously, I needed the Gan MOSFETs themselves. I picked up a few different ones from a supplier – some lower voltage ones, some higher, just to play around. I also grabbed my:
- Power supply
- Multimeter
- Oscilloscope (gotta see those waveforms!)
- Breadboard and some jumper wires
- Some resistors and capacitors
- A function generator
The Basic Test Setup
I started simple. I just wanted to see how these things switched. I wired up a basic circuit on the breadboard with a Gan MOSFET, a resistor as a load, and my power supply. Nothing fancy, just a basic switching circuit. I used the function generator to provide a square wave signal to the gate of the MOSFET.
Checking Things Out
I hooked up the oscilloscope to monitor the gate voltage and the drain-source voltage. Then I slowly increased the power supply voltage, keeping an eye on everything. First thing I noticed: these things switch fast. Like, really fast. The rise and fall times on the oscilloscope were way quicker than what I’m used to seeing with regular silicon MOSFETs. I tweaked the frequency on the function generator, and these Gan MOSFETs had no problem keeping up, even at pretty high frequencies.
Pushing the Limits (a Little)
Next, I started playing around with different load resistors. I wanted to see how much current these Gan MOSFETs could handle. I carefully increased the current, monitoring the temperature of the MOSFET with my finger (yeah, I know, not the most scientific method, but it works!). They definitely stayed cooler than silicon MOSFETs under similar loads.
I did made sure I stay within the datasheet specs. Don’t want to go poof.
My Takeaway (So Far)
Honestly, I’m pretty impressed. The speed is definitely there, and the lower on-resistance seems to be real, based on how cool they stayed. I can see why people are excited about these for things like power supplies and motor controllers. It’s like a whole new playing field opened up.
I still have a lot more experimenting to do. I want to try them out in a real circuit, maybe a small DC-DC converter or something. But for now, I’m calling it a successful first day with Gan MOSFETs!