Light detection and ranging (lidar) is a versatile light-based remote sensing technology that recently has been the subject of great attention. It has shown up in a number of media venues and has even led to public debate about the engineering choices of a well-known electric car company, Tesla Motors. While this article is not going to enter the fray, it will provide some background on lidar and discuss its strong connection to power electronics technologies.

Published in: IEEE Power Electronics Magazine ( Volume: 4, Issue: 1, March 2017 )
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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) has dealt another blow to the silicon MOSFET power element with its Generation 5 (Gen5) process enhancements, bringing improved performance while decreasing the cost of off-the-shelf Gallium Nitride transistors and shrinking their die size and board footprint.

Alex Lidow, EPC’s CEO/co-founder, and his team have once again put their expertise to work in their efforts to provide designers these unique power solution choices for new markets that need performance beyond what silicon devices have been able to provide. The team’s technical capabilities and in-depth understanding, even into the quantum mechanics of the process, are enabling both better performance as well as shrinking the size and cost of their solutions

EDN
March 15, 2017
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The $330 billion silicon chip industry is the foundation of everything electronic. But it’s slowing down as it reaches a new level of maturity that is prompting a bunch of mergers and acquisitions.

That’s why Alex Lidow, an industry pioneer and the chief proponent of an alternative material to silicon — gallium nitride (GaN) — feels like his time has come. His company, Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), is unveiling a new generation of eGaN chips that are half the size of previous chips and have significantly higher performance.

VentureBeat
March 15, 2017
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EPC introduces EPC2045 and EPC2047 eGaN^® FETs that are half the size of prior generation eGaN transistors with significantly higher performance.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — March 2017 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, the world’s leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN^®) power FETs and ICs advances the performance capability while lowering the cost of off-the-shelf gallium nitride transistors with the introduction of the EPC2045 (7 mΩ, 100 V) and the EPC2047 (10 mΩ, 200 V) eGaN FETs. Applications for the EPC2045 include single stage 48 V to load Open Rack server architectures, point-of-load converters, USB-C, and LiDAR. Wireless charging, multi-level AC-DC power supplies, robotics, and solar micro inverters are example applications for the 200 V EPC2047.

Televisions can get their content wirelessly, but there is one set of wires they still need: those in their power cord. The consumer electronics industry has floated ideas for freeing TVs from their power cords, but this goal remains elusive. There are several reasons, such as the difficultly of meeting high-power requirements for large-screen TVs and the need for identifying an economical technology. Nevertheless, eGaN FETs could play a role in making TVs truly cordless devices.

Power Electronic Tips
February, 23, 2017
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As deep learning proliferates, the question of data center power density is once again on the rise, creating new business opportunities for specialized cloud services, hosted in facilities that can support north of 30 kW per rack, and companies in the power conversion space, who can tackle the density issue by making systems more energy efficient. Replacing silicon as the semiconductor material in power conversion chips with gallium nitrate, or GaN, leads to much smaller and more energy efficient devices that provide much faster switching.

Data Center Knowledge
February, 2017
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At the CES show in Las Vegas this year, EPC (Efficient Power Conversion) showcased how GaN is a core technology behind autonomous vehicles, the house of the future without power cords, the connected car, and non-invasive colonoscopies with an x-ray system within a pill. Replacing silicon, one of the most prevalent types of semiconductor around, with a different material, Gallium Nitride, commonly abbreviated as GaN — or “eGaN,” EPCS new, improved form of GaN. Silicon enabled Intel to build an entire empire, but could this be displaced by GaN? This is an episode that you can expect to learn a huge amount and how it appears that the days of Silicon are numbered in this digital age where companies must disrupt or face disruption. Anyone interested in technology and where the industry is heading will love this episode. Guest Info Dr. Alex Lidow the CEO and co-founder of Efficient Power Conversion onto the show to learn What is GaN? Why GaN? and where is it heading?

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The Tech Blog Writer Podcast
January 20, 2017

Wireless power transfer (WPT) technology is destined, in the very near future, to rock the electrics and electrical world we live in. Eric Giler, now president of WiTricity, an MIT spinoff, gave an excellent TED presentation in 2009 entitled, "A demo of wireless electricity." In this demonstration, Giler powered a small TV via wireless power transfer—that was 2009. We have come a long way since then; please read on for a technical glimpse into this amazing field (pun intended) of opportunity for designers.

EDN Network
January 26, 2017
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Adding to its breadth of applications research and support for EPC customer evaluation and use of GaN^® FETs and ICs, the company announces the opening of an applications center and the appointment of Suvankar Biswas, Ph.D. as senior applications engineer.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— January 2017 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) is proud to announce the opening of an Applications Center in Blacksburg, Virginia.  This center will increase the reach of EPC to support research and development for the applications of enhancement-mode gallium nitride transistors and ICs.  In addition to traditional FET and IC power conversion applications, GaN technology has enabled emerging applications such as wireless power transfer, LiDAR for autonomous vehicles, and envelope tracking for high bandwidth 4G and 5G communications.

EPC CEO and Co-Founder, Alex Lidow, discusses the life changing applications on display at CES with Bloomberg Radio. Applications such as LiDAR for autonomous cars with the potential to disrupt the transportation industry and wireless power with the potential to eliminate power cords are highlighted as well as how GaN enables these new technologies.

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Bloomberg
January, 2017

Ultra fast transition eGaN^® FETs used on the EPC9126 can drive laser diodes with high current pulses and total pulse widths as low as 5 ns, thus enhancing the quality of information a LiDAR system will detect, including the accuracy, precision, and processing speed.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — January 2017 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) announces the availability of the EPC9126, a 100 V high current pulsed laser diode driver evaluation board. In a LiDAR system, used for detecting objects in autonomous vehicle applications, speed and accuracy of detection is critical. As demonstrated by this board, the rapid transition capability of eGaN FETs provide power pulses to drive the laser up to ten times faster than an equivalent MOSFET, thus enhancing the overall performance of a LiDAR system.

In a dedicated hospitality suite at CES, the premier global event in consumer electronics, EPC will show how GaN is a core technology behind autonomous vehicles, the house of the future without power cords, the connected car, and non-invasive colonoscopies with an x-ray system within a pill.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — December 2016 — Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) will be hosting a hospitality suite in the Mandalay Bay hotel at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January 5^th through the 8^th.

Wireless charging systems resulting from the WiTricity, ASD, and EPC collaboration will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017, January 5th – 8th, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) announces accelerated efforts to build magnetic resonance based wireless charging systems based on WiTricity’s reference designs that feature gallium nitride (GaN)-based solutions with ASD Technology Limited (ASD). This ramp-up in activity is in response to recently rising customer and end-system manufacturer interests in wireless charging products using gallium nitride technology.

Velodyne LiDAR Inc., the recognized global leader in Light, Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology, today announced a groundbreaking design for a solid-state LiDAR sensor that can deliver a subsystem cost of under $50 U.S. when sold in high-volume manufacturing scale.

Venture Beat
December, 13, 2016
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Lidar is a fantastic sensor for autonomous cars. Most companies developing self-driving vehicles seem to agree that the massive amount of long range, high accuracy data that you get from lidar is necessary, especially for complicated and variable urban environments. Really, the only reason why there's been so much focus on getting autonomy to work with just cameras and radar is that cameras and radar are cheap, and lidar is ridiculously expensive.

IEEE Spectrum
December, 13, 2016
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Carmakers and tech firms competing to develop automated vehicles seek a combination of sensors and cameras that provide maximum perception and visibility of surroundings at a cost that’s manageable for mass production.

Forbes
December, 13, 2016
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The AirFuel™ Alliance, a global consortium of industry leaders focused on enabling and accelerating the adoption of wireless power technology, signed a Letter of Intent today with the Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards (TAICS), to establish a wireless charging ecosystem in Taiwan by introduction of AirFuel's resonant technology standard.

The AirFuel-driven ecosystem will be capable of supporting consumers and businesses with interoperable wireless charging options in a variety of public places – from coffee shops to airports to hotels – thanks to the AirFuel resonant standard and integrated network. AirFuel Alliance chairman, Ron Resnick said, "By introducing AirFuel's resonant technology into Taiwan's wireless charging ecosystem, TAICS is further establishing Taiwan as a global innovator and leader in wirelessly powered deployments."

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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Semiconductor revolutionary Dr. Alex Lidow, CEO & CO-Founder of Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), on why the QCOM-NXP acquisition could be a culture clash.

Bloomberg
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JJPlus Corporation and Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) announce their design collaboration for innovative wireless charging designs.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif — October 25, 2016 — In an effort to address the recently announced Taiwan wireless power standards organization’s announcement of adopting AirFuel™ Alliance’s resonant wireless charging standard, JJPlus Corporation and Efficient Power Conversion Corporation announce their collaboration to design GaN-based wireless power solutions. In addition to the Taiwan initiative, these designs will have application for wireless charging systems worldwide.