Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) introduces the first of a new gallium nitride (GaN) integrated circuit (IC) product family offering higher performance and smaller solution size for time-of-flight (ToF) lidar applications including robotics, drones, 3D sensing, and autonomous cars.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— February 2021 — EPC announces the introduction of a laser driver that integrates a 40 V, 10 A FET with integrated gate driver and 3.3 logic level input in a single chip for time-of-flight lidar systems used in robotics, surveillance systems, drones, autonomous cars, and vacuum cleaners.

EPC’s ePower™ Stage EPC2152 Integrated Circuit has been selected as a finalist in the Semiconductor Product of the Year – Analogue category, in this year’s Elektra Awards.  These prestigious annual awards have been running for over 19 years to reward and recognize companies and individuals for their excellent performance, innovation and contribution to the global electronics industry.

Companies are invited to enter individual categories and must demonstrate how innovative their product is, how it addresses its intended application better than incumbent products and what additional applications or markets could be opened-up.  Judging is carried out by an independently and unbiased, diverse, and knowledgeable panel of industry experts.  Due to the current COVID restrictions the Elektra Awards ceremony this year will be held virtually on 25th March and the winners announced during the event.

THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minnesota, USA – Digi-Key Electronics, the leading global electronic components distributor, announced that it has partnered with Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) to host a webinar on how to harness the power of eGaN FETS and ICs for motor drives. The webinar will take place on October 28 at 8 a.m. PST.

Register for the Harness the Power of GaN for Smaller, Lighter, More Precise Motor Drives webinar at EPC’s webinar page

An integrated circuit made using GaN-on-Si substrates has been in production for over five years. The ultimate goal is to achieve a single component IC that merely requires a simple digital input from a microcontroller and produces a power output that drives a load efficiently, reliably under all conditions, in the smallest space possible, and economically. Discrete power transistors, whether silicon-based or GaN-on-Si, are entering their final chapter. Integrated GaN-on-Si can offer higher performance in a smaller footprint with significantly reduced engineering required.

IEEE Power Electronics Magazine
March 2020
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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) introduces the first of a new integrated circuit (IC) product family offering higher performance and smaller solution size for high power density applications including DC-DC conversion, motor drive, and Class-D audio.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— March 2020 — EPC announces the introduction of an 80 V, 12.5 A power stage integrated circuit designed for 48 V DC-DC conversion used in high-density computing applications and in motor drives for e-mobility.

This article demonstrates the performance improvements that can be obtained when using GaN FETs in combination with suitable GaN FET drivers in 12-V input to 1-V output point-of-load converters. The example design described here uses the uP1966D, a dual-channel, synchronous driver IC from uPI Semiconductor in combination with an EPC2100 GaN asymmetrical half-bridge FET from Efficient Power Conversion.

How2Power Today
December, 2019
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Unleash the full potential of your solutions with jjPlus wireless technologies!

TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 21, 2019 — jjPLus Corp. a Taiwan design manufacturer of high quality wireless communications and wireless power embedded solutions, will showcase the next generation Wireless Power Transfer as well as new WiFi solutions at COMPUTEX 2019 in Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1, at K1024 booth during May 28 - June 1 in Taipei, Taiwan..

Efficient Power Conversion, is at the forefront of GaN-based device development. In this video, EPC CEO Alex Lidow talks with Alix Paultre about the various design-ins at the show that underscore the advantages GaN-based devices can provide.

Embedded Computer Design
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EPC CEO & Co-Founder, Alex Lidow delivers a presentation entitled, Silicon is Dead in the Ridley Engineering booth at APEC 2019.

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In recent years, GaN-based power conversion has increased in popularity due to the inherent benefits of eGaN FETs over conventional Si transistors. Migrating a converter design from Si to GaN offers many system-level improvements, which require consideration of all the components in that system. This trend has subsequently spurred a growth in the ecosystem of power electronics that support GaN-based designs.

Power Systems Designs
By Edward A. Jones, Michael de Rooij, and David Reusch
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EPC will exhibit live demonstrations showing how GaN technology’s superior performance is transforming power delivery for entire industries including wireless charging, DC/DC, LiDAR and automotive.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — March 8, 2018 — The EPC executive and technical team will be engaged in three industry events in Shenzhen and Shanghai, China on March 14 – 16 in demonstrating and sharing with engineers on how to maximize GaN FET and IC performance in their innovative designs, to win their customers.

EPC2112 and EPC2115 GaN-based monolithic integrated solutions offer power systems designers the ability to increase efficiency in an extremely small size.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — March 2018 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) announces the EPC2112 and EPC2115 enhancement-mode monolithic GaN power transistor with integrated driver products. The EPC2112 is a 200 V, 40-mΩ eGaN^® FET plus integrated gate driver. In comparison, the EPC2115 is an integrated circuit with dual 150 V, 70-mΩ eGaN FETs plus gate drivers. Both products are capable of operating up to 7 MHz and are available in low inductance, extremely small, 2.9 mm x 1.1 mm BGA surface-mount passivated die.

Efficient Power Conversion’s EPC9204 and EPC9205 power modules demonstrate the efficiency enhancements and significant size reduction achieved in DC-DC power conversion using high frequency switching eGaN^® power transistors and integrated circuits.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— March 2018 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) introduces two new GaN power modules for DC-DC conversion, increasing efficiency across the 48 V to point-of-load power architecture. The EPC9205 is a high-power density PCB-based power module for 48 V – 12 V conversions while the EPC9204 address the 20 V – point-of-load conversion with an ultra-thin profile PCB-based power module.

This article takes a deep dive into lidar technology. It explains how the technology works and the challenges technologists face as they try to build lidar sensors that meet the demanding requirements for commercial self-driving cars.

The bottom line is that while bringing lidar costs down will take a significant amount of difficult engineering work, there don't seem to be any fundamental barriers to bringing the cost of high-quality lidar down below $1,000—and eventually below $100. That means the technology—and ultimately, self-driving vehicles that depend on lidar—should be well within reach for ordinary consumers.

Ars Techinca
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The previous installment in this series focused on the physics of failure surrounding thermo-mechanical reliability of EPC eGaN wafer level chip-scale packages. A fundamental understanding of the potential failure modes under voltage bias is also important. This installment will provide an overview of the physics of failure associated with voltage bias at the gate electrode of gallium nitride (GaN) field effect transistors (FETs). Here we look at the case of taking the gate control voltage to the specified limit and beyond to investigate how eGaN FETs behave over a projected lifetime.

Planet Analog
Chris Jakubiec
November 29, 2016
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The first three installments in this series covered field reliability experience and stress test qualification of EPC’s enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN) field effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits (ICs). Excellent field reliability that was documented is the result of applying stress tests covering the intended operating conditions the devices will experience within applications. Of equal importance is understanding the underlying physics of how eGaN devices will fail when stressed beyond intended operating conditions (e.g. datasheet parameters and safe operating area). This installment will take a deeper dive into the physics of failure centered around thermo-mechanical reliability of eGaN wafer level chip-scale packages (WLCSP).

Planet Analog
Chris Jakubiec
September 7, 2016
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The first two installments in this series reported in detail on field reliability experience of Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) Corporation’s enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN^®) FETs and integrated circuits (ICs). The excellent field reliability of eGaN devices demonstrates stress-based qualification testing is capable of ensuring reliability in customer applications. In this installment we will examine the stress tests that EPC devices are subjected to prior to being considered qualified products.

Planet Analog
Chris Jakubiec
July 9, 2016
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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) Corporation’s enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN^®) FETs and integrated circuits (ICs) are finding their way into many end user applications such as LIDAR, wireless charging, DC-DC conversion, RF base station transmission, satellite systems, and audio amplifiers.

Field reliability is the ultimate metric that corroborates the quality level of eGaN^® FETs and ICs that have been deployed in customer applications. In our first installment we provided an overview of eGaN FET field reliability which included 6 years of volume production shipment, and greater than 17 billion total device hours recorded. A subsequent calculated Failure In Time (FIT – failures in 109 hours) of approximately 0.24 FITs shows excellent field reliability performance to date.

Plant Analog
Chris Jakubiec
May 1, 2016
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