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| COPYRIGHT 2017
Demonstration System EPC9058
NOTE. When measuring the high frequency content switch-node, care must be taken
to avoid long ground leads. An oscilloscope probe connection (preferred method) has
been built into the board to simplify the measurement of the Drain-Source Voltage
(shown in figure 6). The choice of oscilloscope probe needs to consider tip capacitance
where this will appear in parallel with the shunt capacitance thereby altering the operating
point of the amplifier.
Pre-Cautions
The EPC9058 development board showcases the EPC2110 eGaN FETs in
a class-E amplifier application. Although the electrical performance
surpasses that of traditional silicon devices, their relatively smaller size
does require attention paid to thermal management techniques.
Figure 3: Class-E operation under various load conditions that can be used to determine the optimal design load resistance (R
load
).
Figure 2: EPC9058 power circuit schematic.
Figure 1: Single-ended, Class-E amplifier with ideal operation waveforms.
+
L
e1x
L
e2x
L
RFck1
L
RFck2
Q
1
Q
2
C
CQ1
C
CQ2
Coil connection
J1
V
IN
V
DD
L
RFck
L
e
C
sh
C
S
Z
Load
Q
1
50%
Time
V / I
V
DS
I
D
3.56 x V
DD
Ideal waveforms
I
D
I
D
V / I
V / I
P
FETloss
R
Load
R
Load_Design
V / I
V
DS
V
DS
I
D
V
DS
50%
50%
50%
Time
Time
Time
R
Load
< Design point
R
Load
= Design point
R
Load
> Design point
Body diode
conduction
Capacitance
(C
OSS
+ C
sh
)
losses
~6.5 x V
DD
~2 x V
DD
Optimal design
3.56 x V
DD
Drives FET voltage rating
Drives FET C
OSS
choice
The EPC9058 development board has no current or thermal protection
and care must be exercised not to over-current or over-temperature
the devices. Excessively wide load impedance range variations can lead
to increased losses in the devices. The operator must observe the
temperature of the gate driver and eGaN FETs to ensure that both are
operating within the thermal limits as per the datasheets. Always check
operating conditions and monitor the temperature of the EPC devices
using an IR camera.
