Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) introduces a new family of radiation-hardened (rad-hard) gallium nitride (GaN) products for power conversion solutions in critical spaceborne and other high reliability environments.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— June 2021 — EPC announces the introduction of a new family of radiation-hardened gallium nitride transistors and integrated circuits. With higher breakdown strength, faster switching speed, higher thermal conductivity and lower on-resistance, power devices based on GaN significantly outperform silicon-based devices. The lower resistance and gate charge enable faster power supply switching frequencies resulting in higher power densities, higher efficiencies, and more compact and lighter weight circuitry for critical spaceborne missions. Gallium nitride is also inherently radiation tolerant, making GaN-based devices a reliable, higher performing power transistor option for space applications.

GaN transistors and ICs increase power density in motor drive applications. An optimal lay-out approach allows obtaining ring-free output switching waveforms and clean current reconstruction signals either from leg shunts or from in-phase shunts.

Bodo’s Power Systems
June, 2021
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Delivering the power of a quarter brick in the size of an eighth brick, the EPC9149 uses eGaN^® FETs switching at 1 MHz for extreme power density to deliver 1 kW of power.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— May, 2021 — EPC announces the availability of the EPC9149, a 1 kW-capable 48 V input to 12 V output LLC converter that operates as a DC transformer with a conversion ratio of 4:1. This demonstration board features the 100V EPC2218 and 40 V EPC2024 GaN FETs.

The EPC9137 is a two-phase 48 V – 12 V bidirectional converter that delivers 1.5 kW with 97% efficiency in small solution size for mild-hybrid cars and battery power backup units.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— May, 2021 — EPC announces the availability of the EPC9137, a 1.5 kW, two-phase 48 V – 12 V bidirectional converter that operates with 97 % efficiency in a very small footprint. The design of this demonstration board is scalable; that is, two converters can be paralleled to achieve 3 kW or three converters can be paralleled to achieve 4.5 kW. The board features four EPC2206 100 V eGaN^® FETs and is controlled by a module that includes the Microchip dsPIC33CK256MP503 16-bit digital controller.

Manufacturers of GaN power semiconductors showcased their latest products, from 100 V to 650-V devices at PCIM Europe. PCIM Europe showcased several presentations about the benefits and use cases of wide bandgap (WGG) semiconductors, including gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC). Several manufacturers, including EPC, GaN Systems, Infineon, Nexperia, and STMicroelectronics announced several new families of GaN power semiconductors during the week.

Electronic Products
May, 2021
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The EPC2152 ePower™ Stage enables higher performance and smaller solution size for high performance, low-cost BLDC motors as demonstrated in the EPC9146 demonstration board.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— May, 2021 — EPC announces the availability of the EPC9146, a 400 W motor drive demonstration. The EPC9146 power board contains three independently controlled half bridge circuits, featuring the EPC2152 monolithic ePower™ Stage with integrated gate driver, 80 V maximum device voltage, 15 A (10 A_RMS) maximum output current. The inverter board measures just 81 mm x 75 mm and achieve an efficiency of greater than 98.4% at 400 W output power.

Recently, Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) did a series of tests to take eGaN^® FETs beyond their data sheet limits to quantify the effects of large amounts of overstress voltage and current and the results are published here for the first time.

Bodo’s Power Systems
May, 2021
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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) will showcase the company’s latest enhancement-mode gallium nitride-based FETs and ICs demonstrating how GaN technology’s superior performance is transforming power delivery for automotive, computing, and robotics at the PCIM Europe 2021 Digital Days.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— April 2021 — The EPC team will be delivering two technical presentations, an educational tutorial, an exhibitor webinar, and participating in panel discussions on gallium nitride (GaN) technology and applications at the upcoming PCIM Europe 2021 Digital Days, May 3 – 7. In addition, the company will participate in the event’s virtual exhibition, showing its latest eGaN FETs and ICs in customers’ end products that are rapidly adopting eGaN^® technology.

In this article, the author introduces a GaN FET compatible analog controller that yields a low bill-of-material count and give designers the ability to design a synchronous buck converter in the same simple way as using silicon FETs, and offers superior performance for 48 V power systems.

Power Electronics News
April, 2021
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GaN transistors and ICs allow increasing power density in motor drive applications by eliminating electrolytic capacitors in the input filter. The superior switching behavior of GaN helps to remove dead time and obtain un-matched sinusoidal voltage and current waveforms for smoother, silent operation.

Bodo’s Power Systems
April, 2021
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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) announces that the EPC2152 ePower™ Stage IC has received the 2020 Elektra Award for Semiconductor Product of the Year (Analogue).

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— March 2021 — EPC’s ePower™ stage, EPC2152 Integrated Circuit (IC), has been honored with an Elektra Award 2020 in the Semiconductor Product of the Year – Analogue category. The award presentation was announced on March 25^th during a virtual awards ceremony hosted by Electronics Weekly. 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. Judging is carried out by an independently and unbiased, diverse, and knowledgeable panel of industry experts.

Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) announces the expansion of its 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, gaming, and autonomous cars.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— March 2021 — EPC announces the introduction of a laser driver that integrates a 40 V, 10 A FET with a gate driver and low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) logic level input in a single chip for time-of-flight lidar systems used in robotics, drones, augmented reality, and gaming applications.

GaN technology is developing rapidly with frequent releases of new generations of discrete devices that become the platform for new generations of more efficient, smaller, and lower cost integrated circuits. GaN integrated circuits make products smaller, faster, more efficient, and easier to design.

Power Systems Design
March, 2021 (page 36)
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Gallium nitride (GaN) power devices have been in production for over 10 years and, beyond just performance and cost improvements, the most significant opportunity for GaN technology to impact the power conversion market comes from the intrinsic ability to integrate multiple devices on the same substrate. This capability will allow monolithic power systems to be designed on a single chip in a more straightforward, higher efficiency, and more cost-effective way.

Power Electronic News
March, 2021
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The ultra-fast transition EPC2034C eGaN^® FETs used on the EPC9150 enables high current pulses up to 220 A and pulse widths under 3 ns, thus allowing a lidar system to see farther, faster, and better.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— March 2021 — Efficient Power Conversion  (EPC) announces the availability of the EPC9150, a 200 V, high current, pulsed-laser diode driver demonstration board. In a lidar system, used to create 3-D maps for autonomous vehicle applications, speed and accuracy of object detection is critical. As demonstrated by this board, the rapid transition capability of the EPC2034C eGaN FETs provide power pulses to drive the laser diodes, VCSELs or LEDs up to ten times faster than an equivalent MOSFET and in a small fraction of the area, energy, and cost. Thus, enhancing the overall performance, including accuracy, precision, and processing speed as well as the price of a lidar system.

New family of laser driver IC products will enable faster adoption and increased ubiquity of ToF solutions across a wider array of end-user applications.

How2Power
March, 2021
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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) expands AEC Q101 product family with the addition of the EPC2219, 65 V gallium nitride transistor with integrated reverse gate clamp diode optimized for high resolution lidar systems.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— March 2021 — EPC announces successful AEC Q101 qualification of the 65 V EPC2219 designed for lidar systems in the automotive industry and other harsh environments. 

Enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN) FETs have demonstrated excellent thermomechanical reliability in actual operation in the field or when tested according to AEC or JEDEC standards. This is because of the inherent simplicity of the “package,” the lack of wire bonds, dissimilar materials, or mold compound. Recently, an extensive study of underfill products was conducted to experimentally generate lifetime predictions. A finite element analysis at the end of this section explains the experimental results and generates guidelines for selection of underfill based on key material properties.

Bodo's Power
March, 2021
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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.