Gallium Nitride-based 48V-to-1V Point-of-Load (PoL) Converter for Aerospace Telecommunications and Computing Applications

This paper presents a regulating Hybrid Switched Capacitor Converter (HSCC) topology suitable for high conversion ratio Point-of-Load (PoL) applications, specifically targeting 48 V to 1 V power delivery in space-based high-performance computing systems, where size and weight are important considerations, along with device de-rating for radiation tolerance. The proposed topology merges an initial 2:1 switched capacitor conversion stage with a recently developed symmetric dual inductor hybrid (SDIH) conversion stage, reaping benefits of both. The SDIH stage offers reduced component count and an excellent switch stress figure of merit, while the initial 2:1 voltage reduction stage significantly reduces the volume of flying capacitors, enabling compact size and low weight. A high density gate drive solution is also presented, using a minimal number of driver ICs without compromising on driving capability. A preliminary hardware prototype demonstrates this topology’s feasibility while employing de-rated gallium nitride (GaN) switches to safeguard against radiation total ionizing dose (TID) and single event effects (SEE). This prototype achieves a very high measured power density of 2,020 W/inch ³ (123.3 kW/liter) while performing 48 V to 1 V conversion and switching at 1 MHz.