GaN to become core technology in power electronics

These GaN devices offer significant advantages over traditional silicon MOSFETs and IGBTs and introduce smaller, lighter and more efficient power electronics in numerous industrial, consumer and automotive applications such as datacentre power supplies, notebook travel adapters, air conditioning motors and EV battery chargers and traction electronics.

Based on the company’s core IP, Island Technology, the power switching semiconductors incorporate the wide-bandgap and high switching speed, temperature, voltage and current performance of gallium nitride into a unique structure that maximises wafer yields and produces highly efficient transistors up to four times smaller and at lower cost than tradition design approaches. The fast switching and dense current-carrying capability of Island Technology devices is further enhanced by GaN Systems’ compact, near chipscale GaNPX packaging, which has no wire bonds, minimising inductance and thermal resistance and increasing reliability. The third technological innovation at the heart of GaN Systems products is Drive Assist, on-chip drivers that simplify circuit design, remove Miller driving issues and improve switching speed.

“Power system engineers around the world concur that the availability of GaN transistors may be the single most important advance since the IGBT became available in the 1990s. The ability to decrease power losses by 50-90% or to reduce the size and weight of a system by up to one quarter of its original size will alter the way power systems are designed and used. GaN Systems’ GaN power transistors are enabling this transition to begin. We have brought the broadest GaN product offering to the global marketplace with unique technology that enables it to be incorporated easily into next-gen power electronics,” said Jim Witham, CEO, GaN Systems.

Witham added: “2014 has been one of the most exciting and significant years since the company’s inception. Our global distribution agreement with Mouser Electronics now delivers GaN Systems’ products directly into the hands of electronics design engineers, we have added to our headcount worldwide and made significant appointments at VP level in Europe and Asia and we have presented technical papers or exhibited at major conferences worldwide. Earlier this year we moved our HQ into expanded premises in Kanata, Ottawa’s high-tech district, so we could increase our laboratory space tenfold, ensure our R&D facility incorporates state-of-the-art custom facilities and the dedicated power and cooling systems needed to fully explore higher power applications and accelerate product development and testing.”