National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:NSM) today introduced the industry’s first 100V half-bridge gate driver optimized for use with enhancement-mode Gallium-Nitride (GaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) in high-voltage power converters. Enhancement-mode GaN FETs enable new levels of efficiency and power density compared to standard metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) due to their low on-resistance (Rdson) and gate charge (Qg) as well as their ultra-small footprint, but driving them reliably presents significant new challenges. National’s LM5113 driver integrated circuit (IC) eliminates these challenges, enabling power designers to realize the benefits of GaN FETs in a variety of popular power topologies.

Read article

EL SEGUNDO, Calif-May 4, 2011 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation’s (EPC) family of enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN®) power FETs has won the Energy Technology Award issued as part of the prestigious EE Times Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards. These awards celebrate the creators of technology who demonstrate leadership and innovation in the global industry and shape the world we which we live.

“We are very proud to have won the ACE Award. This award substantiates that EPC’s enhancement-mode GaN power transistors represent a major breakthrough in power conversion technology. We believe that performance from silicon-based MOSFETs has reached the end of the road and that eGaN technology will lead the way for continued increases in performance in power management.” said Alex Lidow, EPC’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.

Microsemi is working with Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) www.epc-co.com in the development of a complete line of high performance FETS for high reliability space and military applications. A jointly researched paper entitled "Enhancement Mode Gallium Nitride Characteristics Under Long Term Stress" will be presented at the Government Microcircuit Applications and Critical Technology Conference (GOMAC), March 21-24, 2011 in Orlando, Florida. The study covers the reliability testing results and demonstrates the stability of the devices at temperature and under radiation exposure.

Read the article

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - March 15, 2011 - Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (www.epc-co.com) announce the introduction of the EPC2001 and EPC2015, two lead-free, RoHS-compliant (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN™) FETs.

The EPC2001 FET is a 100 V_DS device with a maximum R_DS(ON) of 7 milliohms with 5 V applied to the gate, and the EPC2015 is a 40 V_DS with a maximum R_DS(ON) of 4 milliohms. Both eGaN FETs provide significant performance advantages over similar state-of-the-art silicon-based power MOSFETs. Both devices have low on resistance, are smaller than silicon devices with similar resistance and have many times superior switching performance.

Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) Market Leading eGaN™ FET Named Finalist in Prestigious 2010 EDN Innovation Awards Competition

EL SEGUNDO, Calif-February 23, 2011 - Efficient Power Conversion Corporation’s EPC1010 enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN™) power FET has been named a finalist in EDN’s 21st annual Innovation Awards http://innovation.edn.com/) within the Power IC’s category.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif-January 6, 2011 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation’s (EPC) family of enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN™) power FETs have been honored with an Electronic Products’ Product of the Year award.

The editors of Electronic Products — a leading trade publication for electronic design engineers — evaluated thousands of products launched in 2010. The winning products were selected on the basis of innovative design, significant advancement in technology or application and substantial achievement in price and performance. The eGaN FETs demonstrated success in the category of discrete semiconductors.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)—Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) today announced the introduction of the EPC9002 development board to make it easier for users to get started designing with EPC’s 100V enhancement-mode GaN transistor products.

The EPC9002 development board is a 50 V maximum input voltage, 7 A maximum output current, half bridge with onboard gate drives, featuring the EPC1001 100V GaN Power Transistor. The purpose of this development board is to simplify the evaluation process of the EPC1001 GaN power transistor by including all the critical components on a single board that can be easily connected into any existing converter. The EPC9002 development board is 2” x 1.5” and contains not only two EPC1001 GaN transistors in a half bridge configuration with gate drivers, but also an on board gate drive supply and all critical components and layout for optimal switching performance. There are also various probe points to facilitate simple waveform measurement and efficiency calculation.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)—Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) today announced that the company has made available on its web site SPICE models for all of its enhancement mode GaN transistors.

TSPICE, PSPICE, and LTSPICE device models have been developed to help the designer of advanced GaN-based power conversion circuits and systems understand the value of this new power transistor family and reduce their time-to-market with benchmark products. These free downloads are available at:

EL SEGUNDO, Calif-March 8, 2010 -Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) today introduced a family of enhancement mode power transistors based on its proprietary Gallium Nitride on Silicon technology.

Spanning a range of 40 Volts to 200 Volts, and 4 milliohms to 100 milliohms, these power transistors demonstrate significant performance advantages over state-of-the-art silicon-based power MOSFETs. EPC’s technology produces devices that are smaller than similar resistance silicon devices and have many times superior switching performance. Applications that benefit from this newly available performance are DC-DC power supplies, point-of-load converters, class D audio amplifiers, notebook and netbook computers, LED drive circuits, telecom base stations, and cell phones, to name just a few.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - March 8, 2010 -Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) today announced that Digi Key Corporation will be the exclusive global distributor for EPC’s line of enhancement-mode Gallium Nitride power transistors.

Spanning a range of 40 Volts to 200 Volts, and 4 milliohms to 100 milliohms, these power transistors demonstrate significant performance advantages over state-of-the-art silicon-based power MOSFETs. EPC’s technology produces devices that are smaller than similar resistance silicon devices and have many times superior switching performance. Applications that benefit from this newly available performance are DC-DC power supplies, point-of-load converters, class D audio amplifiers, notebook and netbook computers, LED drive circuits, telecom base stations, and cell phones, to name just a few.