# US 2012/0074920 A1 · Power converter circuits including high electron mobility transistors for switching and rectifcation > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2012/0074920 A1 - Document ID: US20120074920A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 12/837,092 - Filed: 2010-07-15 - Published: 2012-03-29 - Earliest claimed: 2010-07-15 - Assignees: Cree, Inc. - Inventors: Robert Joseph Callanan - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20120074920A1 ## CPC - H02M 1/08: Circuits specially adapted for the generation of control voltages for semiconductor devices incorporated in static converters - H02M 3/33507: {with automatic control of the output voltage or current, e.g. flyback converters (H02M3/33561, H02M3/33569 take precedence)} - H03K 17/567: Circuits characterised by the use of more than one type of semiconductor device, e.g. BIMOS, composite devices such as IGBT - H03K 17/74: by the use, as active elements, of diodes (by the use of more than one type of semiconductor device H03K17/567; by the use of tunnel diodes H03K17/58; by the use of negative resistance diodes H03K17/70) - H02M 1/0003: {Details of control, feedback or regulation circuits} - H02M: APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF (transformers H01F; dynamo-electric converters H02K47/00; controlling transformers, reactors or choke coils, control or regulation of electric motors, generators or dynamo-electric converters H02P) - H03K: PULSE TECHNIQUE (measuring pulse characteristics G01R; modulating sinusoidal oscillations with pulses H03C; transmission of digital information H04L; discriminator circuits detecting phase difference between two signals by counting or integrating cycles of oscillation H03D3/04; automatic control, starting, synchronisation or stabilisation of generators of electronic oscillations or pulses where the type of generator is irrelevant or unspecified H03L; coding, decoding or code conversion, in general H03M) ## Abstract A power converter circuit includes a storage component, a rectifier component comprising a first field effect transistor and having first and second bias states, and a switch including a second field effect transistor having first and second operational states. The first and second field effect transistors are High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs). ## Claims ### Claim 1 A power converter circuit, comprising: a storage component; a rectifier component comprising a first field effect transistor and having first and second bias states; and a switch comprising a second field effect transistor having first and second operational states; wherein the first and second field effect transistors comprise first and second high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), respectively. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein energy from a power source is stored in the storage component when the switch is configured in the first operational state and the rectifier component is in the first bias state and the stored energy in the storage component is released to a load when the switch is configured in the second operational state and the rectifier component is in the second bias state. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein the rectifier component further comprises: a semiconductor diode having a cathode connected to a source node of the first field effect transistor and an anode connected to a gate node of the first field effect transistor. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The power converter circuit of claim 3, wherein the semiconductor diode is a hot carrier diode. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The power converter circuit of claim 3, wherein the semiconductor diode comprises a Schottky diode. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The power converter circuit of claim 5, wherein the semiconductor diode comprises a silicon Schottky diode. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein the first HEMT comprises at least one heterojunction as a conducting channel. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein the second HEMT comprises at least one heterojunction as a conducting channel. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein the power converter circuit is a Direct Current to Direct Current (DC to DC) power converter circuit and the switch is operable in a hard switched mode. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein the power converter circuit is a Direct Current to Direct Current (DC to DC) power converter and the switch is operable in a resonant switched mode. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein the power converter circuit is a Direct Current to Direct Current (DC to DC) power converter circuit and the storage component, the rectifier, and the switch are configured in a Buck configuration, a Boost configuration, a Buck-Boost configuration, a Cuk configuration, a Single Ended Primary Inductor Converter (SEPIC) configuration, or a Zeta configuration. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein the storage component comprises a magnetic field storage component. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The power converter circuit of claim 12, wherein the magnetic field storage component comprises an inductor and/or a transformer. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein the storage component comprises an electric field storage component. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The power converter circuit of claim 14, wherein the electric field storage component comprises a capacitor. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The power converter circuit of claim 1, wherein the first and second HEMTs comprise first and second GaN HEMTs. ### Claim 17 A power converter circuit having a switching frequency in a range of about 10 MHz-100 MHz when operating in a resonance switched operational mode and having an efficiency of at least about 95%. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The power converter circuit of claim 17, wherein the power converter circuit operates at voltages up to about 600 V. ### Claim 19 A power converter circuit having a switching frequency in a range of about 1 MHz-10 MHz when operating in a hard switched operational mode and having an efficiency of at least about 95%. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The power converter circuit of claim 17, wherein the power converter circuit operates at voltages up to about 600 V.