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.

The world around us will soon be engulfed by machines that affect our living spaces, our bodies, and our experience of light and sound, powered by a novel combination of semiconductors and miniature engines. Tasks as basic as charging a smartphone or cooking an egg—and as complex as scanning for colon cancer or powering flying drones on long journeys—stand to be transformed.

Barron's
October 22, 2016
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On November 3rd, IEEE PELS will offer a webinar by Alex Lidow and Michael de Rooij discussing the design and PCB manufacturing methods for using chip-scale packaged GaN power devices.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— October 2016 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) experts on the design and use of gallium nitride transistors will conduct a one-hour webinar sponsored by the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) on November 3rd from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM (EDT).

Tesla Motors is releasing a new version of Autopilot overnight, adding features the company says will make it safer and more reliable. Investigators are probing what role the self-driving system played in a pair of fatal crashes in Florida and China.

Silicon Beat
September 21, 2016
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Class A has been the serious audiophile's gold standard for decades. Today however, we are at the early stages of a seismic shift towards widespread Class D audiophile adoption. Why? Because a new type of Class D audio is quickly approaching the performance of Class A, with benefits not enjoyed by the reigning incumbent. A new transistor technology called Gallium Nitride (GaN) is poised to uproot the high-end audio world. In fact, GaN-based Class D is much more power-efficient than traditional, MOSFET-based Class D and offers orders of magnitude better performance.

Audiophile Review
September 17, 2016
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The chief technology officer of a technology supplier that enables Tesla's semi-autonomous Autopilot driving technology believes the carmaker is pushing the safety envelope too far.

"It is not designed to cover all possible crash situations in a safe manner," Amnon Shashua, CTO and executive chairman at Israel-based Mobileye NV, told Reuters Wednesday.

Computerworld
September 15, 2016
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The superior characteristics of eGaN ^® FETs and ICs enable a lower cost single transmit amplifier solution that can wirelessly charge devices regardless of the standard used in the receiving device.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif — September 2016 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation’s (EPC) EPC9121 multi-mode wireless charging demonstration system has been honored with an Electronic Products China’s “Top 10 Power Product – Breakthrough Technology Award.” The award is a benchmark for recognizing a significant advancement in a technology or its application that leads the industry trend. The award presentation was announced on September 8^th, 2016 in Beijing, China during its Power Conference.

In the future, self-driving cars will require laser-based sensing tech, and these systems will need new types of high-speed transistors and chips that can beat out silicon.

That’s the assertion of Alex Lidow, a Stanford PhD physicist, entrepreneur, and CEO and founder of Efficient Power Conversion (commonly called EPC), a company based in El Segundo, Calif. that makes transistors and chips out of a material that operates more quickly and efficiently—and costs less than silicon.

Fortune
September 8, 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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EPC Phase Eight Reliability Report documents a combined total of over 8 million GaN device-hours with zero failures. The report examines, in detail, the stress tests that EPC devices are subjected to prior to release as qualified products and analyzes the physics of failure.

Bodo’s Power Systems
September 1, 2016
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Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) shares the immediate availability of a complete demonstration multi-mode wireless power charging kit, the EPC9121, for simplifying the evaluation process of using eGaN FETs and ICs for highly efficient multi-mode wireless power charging systems that can cut across any standard used in the receiving units.

The superior characteristics of eGaN^® FETs and ICs enable a lower cost single transmit amplifier solution that can wirelessly charge devices regardless of the wireless power standard used in the receiving device.

View video of the latest EPC9121 demo kit with engineers at PCIM Asia 2016, and the related interview

Gallium Nitride ICs: Increasing server power efficiencies - Reducing waste power, cooling, and space aren't just data-center-size concerns; they're also battles fought inside the confines of each rack. And, sometimes, even one small change can make a big difference.

TechBeacon
August 2, 2016
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EPC Phase Eight Reliability Report documents a combined total of over 8 million GaN device-hours with zero failures. The report examines, in detail, the stress tests that EPC devices are subjected to prior to release as qualified products and analyzes the physics of failure.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— July 2016 — EPC announces its Phase Eight Reliability Report showing the results of the rigorous set of JEDEC-based qualification stress tests eGaN FETS and integrated circuits undertake prior to being considered qualified products.

Ismosys now represents EPC’s European sales, marketing, and technical support to assist customers in adopting eGaN^® FETs and ICs for leading-edge power conversion systems using gallium nitride

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—July 2016 — To support its accelerating growth throughout Europe, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) is proud to announce the appointment of Ismosys as its sales, marketing, and technical support representative.  Ismosys, founded in 1994, provides support to design houses, designers and engineers across Europe. This is achieved through 10 regional offices covering the entire EMEA and a significant centralized resource, fostering sales, driving marketing and enabling technical support. 

In this PSDcast Alex Lidow, CEO and Co-founder of Efficient Power Conversion, talks to Alix Paultre of Power Systems Design about the state of GaN development. Now that the industry has finally embraced what GaN can do with multiple vendors and solutions, we are now seeing real design-ins and products based on GaN power devices.

Power Systems Design
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In this slidecast, Alexander Lidow from EPC describes how the company is leading a technological revolution with Gallium Nitride (GaN). More efficient than silicon as a basis for electronics, GaN could save huge amounts of energy in the datacenter and has the potential to fuel the computer industry beyond Moore’s Law.

insideHPC
July 20, 2016
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EPC’s new value-added partnership with ASD aims to support customer designs from conception to manufacturing of eGaN^® technology-based wireless power charging and other emerging applications.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— July 2016 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC), Los Angeles-based innovator in gallium nitride (eGaN) technology for replacing MOSFET technology, has joined forces with ASD Technology Limited (ASD), a Hong-Kong-based company delivering best-in-class customer solutions for applications using the latest eGaN technology.

GaN-based FETs are disrupting the power conversion market and are displacing silicon-based metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Compared to MOSFETs, GaN FETs operate much faster and have higher switching speeds in the smallest possible volume. The promise of GaN is that it can dramatically reduce the size and weight of any power supply. To reach their performance potential, these high-performance GaN transistors need an optimized gate driver.

Peregrine Semiconductor
July 12, 2016
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