GaN Systems at PCIM Europe 2021

The evolution of GaN has been captured at PCIM throughout the years and 2021 is no different. Sessions and company innovations point to the advances and explosive increase in the demand for GaN power semiconductors and adoption.

This is demonstrated by GaN Systems’ announcements that its high volume GaN transistors have fallen below $1.00 USD, shipment of its 20 Millionth GaN transistor, and a 40X capacity expansion to be completed in 2021. 

In the last year, GaN Systems has shown significant customer growth and innovative power system design applications, including:

• The debut of new 650V, 60A transistors for the automotive market designed to exceed automotive reliability standards including AEC-Q101 qualification and GaN Systems’ AutoQual+ testing and qualification.
• A small and smart 100W dual USB-C intelligent PD GaN charger from GaN Systems which achieves outstanding efficiency, power density, and circuit intelligence.
• A reference design for the highest power density, high efficiency GaN-based 65W Active Clamp Flyback (ACF) charger in collaboration with Silanna Semiconductor.
• A new 3kW full-bridge LLC resonant converter design to pair with its 3kW bridgeless totem-pole PFC reference design for data centre applications that exceeds the 80 PLUS Titanium standard for power supply units.

Focused attention on data centre, automotive, and industrial applications

• Data Centres: GaN power transistors, which have made their way into data centre power supplies, can reduce energy costs by more than $100 million annually and reduce CO2 emissions by nearly one million metric tons for a large data centre operator. In addition to data centre power supplies, significant savings are also attained in 5G power applications and cryptomining power supplies.  
• Automotive: GaN is being designed in a wide range of automotive applications from onboard battery chargers (OBC), DC/DC converters, and traction inverters. GaN can save electric vehicle auto manufacturers $1.1 billion in lower materials and battery costs and increase driving range (km) by six percent, reducing and question of driver range anxiety. BrightLoop incorporates GaN Systems transistors in its family of DC/DC converters (which is half the size and weight of the company’s first-generation product family) designed for the demanding environment of e-motorsport racing.
• Industrial: GaN is making waves in areas such as wireless charging of robots and drones, industrial power supplies, and motor drives. Siemens is a great example of how some of the world’s largest companies are innovating with GaN. The company  released a GaN-based motor drive as part of its Simatic Micro-Drive product line, offering increased efficiency and faster motor response time commenting that GaN has brought about a breakthrough in drive technology. The mini drive is only two centimeters wide and requires no active cooling.