DrGaNPLUS EPC9201 30 V, 40 A and EPC9203 80 V, 20 A evaluation boards demonstrate the extreme size reduction and efficiency enhancement for power conversion that can be achieved using high frequency switching eGaN power transistors.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— March 2015 — Providing an easy-to-use way for power systems designers to evaluate the exceptional performance of gallium nitride transistors and get their products into volume production quickly, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) announces the expansion of its portfolio of DrGaNPLUS evaluation boards. These boards are proof-of-concept designs that integrate all necessary components of a half-bridge circuit into a single, extremely small PCB-based module that can be readily mounted to demonstrate the excellent performance of a GaN transistor power conversion solution.

EPC9115 DC-DC bus converter showcases superior performance achieved using eGaN FETS with designated drivers in a conventional fully regulated, isolated eighth brick DC-DC converter topology.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — March 2015 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) introduces the EPC9115, a demonstration design for a 12 V, 42 A output with an input range of 48 V to 60 V. The demonstration board features enhancement-mode (eGaN®) power transistors – the EPC2020 (60 V) and EPC2021 (80V) – along with the LM5113 half-bridge driver and UCC27611 low side driver from Texas Instruments. The power stage is a conventional hard-switched 300 kHz isolated buck converter.

Wireless Power Handbook is a guide to designing an efficient amplifier for a wireless power transfer system, taking advantage of the superior performance of gallium nitride power transistors.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – March 2015 – Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (www.epc-co.com) announces the publication of a practical engineering handbook designed to provide power system design engineers valuable experiences and points of reference critical to understanding and designing highly efficient wireless power systems using gallium nitride-based transistors. As a supplement to EPC’s GaN Transistors for Efficient Power Conversion, this new practical guide provides step-by-step analysis on the use of GaN transistors in wireless power transfer. /p> Read more

Enhancement-mode gallium nitride (GaN) transistors have been commercially available for over five years. Commercially available GaN FETs are designed to be both higher performance and lower cost than state-of-the-art silicon-based power MOSFETs. This achievement marks the first time in 60 years that any technology rivals silicon both in terms of performance and cost, and signals the ultimate displacement of the venerable, but aging power MOSFET.

EDN
Alex Lidow
February 18, 2015

At the IEEE APEC 2015 power electronics industry conference, EPC applications experts will make eight technical presentations on GaN FET technology and applications showing the superiority of GaN transistors compared to silicon power MOSFETs.

EPC’s CEO and Co-Founder, Alex Lidow, has spent much of his career developing a superefficient replacement for silicon. Hear his interview on Bloomberg TV.

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Bloomberg TV
February 17, 2015

Ashlee Vance at Bloomberg Business profiles EPC. Silicon has enjoyed some serious staying power. For going on 60 years, it’s been the semiconductor of choice at the heart of transistors—the tiny switches that power the Information Age. A valley has been named after it. Many billion-dollar empires have been forged from it. And now—look away, silicon—it may finally be on the verge of being replaced.

EPC9106 Class-D audio amplifier reference design, using high frequency switching gallium nitride power transistors, demonstrates efficiency enhancement, size reduction and eliminates need for a heat sink while delivering prosumer quality sound.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — February 2015 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) introduces the EPC9106, a reference design for a 150 W, 8 ohm Class-D audio amplifier.

Speaking from an industry perspective, technologies only exist for as long as they yield the benefits and capabilities that promise man a certain advantage. That said, mainstream silicon CMOS technology has afforded the industry immeasurable gains that it has thoroughly benefitted from. The question now is this. Is the sun shining down on CMOS ready to set? An emerging class of GaN power chips is finally knocking down the final cost barriers to their adoption. The chips will enable a wide range of applications from wireless charging to autonomous vehicles and more efficient cellular communications, according to a DesignCon keynoter.

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EETimes Asia
February, 2015

Efficient Power Conversion introduces the EPC2102, 60 V and EPC2103, 80 V half bridges, expanding its award winning family of gallium nitride power transistor products.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — January 2014 — EPC announces the EPC2102, 60 V and the , 80 V enhancement-mode monolithic GaN transistor half bridges.

For the first time in 60 years, a new higher-performance semiconductor technology is less expensive to produce than the silicon counterpart. Gallium nitride (GaN), has demonstrated both a dramatic improvement in transistor performance and the ability to be produced at a lower cost than silicon. GaN transistors have unleashed new applications as a result of their ability to switch higher voltages and higher currents faster than any transistor before. These extraordinary characteristics have ushered in new applications capable of transforming the future. But this is just the beginning.

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EDN
By: Alex Lidow
January, 2015

EPC2027 eGaN^® FET offers power systems designers a 450 V power transistor capable of 4ns rise times for high frequency DC-DC converters and medical diagnostic instruments.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — January 2015 — EPC announces the EPC2027, a 450 V normally off (enhancement mode) power transistor for use in applications requiring high frequency switching in order to achieve higher efficiency and power density. Applications enhanced by high voltage higher switching speeds include ultra-high frequency DC-DC converters, medical diagnostic equipment, solar power inverters, and LED lighting.

EPC2100 GaN power transistor single-chip half-bridge products honored with award for innovative advancement in discrete semiconductors.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif — January 2015 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation’s (EPC) enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN^®) monolithic half-bridge power transistor products have been honored with an Electronic Products’ Product of the Year award.

In this installment of the ‘How to GaN’ series we will discuss the 4th generation of eGaN FETs in 48 VIN applications and evaluate the thermal performance of the chipscale packaging of high voltage lateral eGaN FETs.

EEWeb
By: Alex Lidow
December, 2014

Technics is back. Panasonic has unveiled the first new hi-fi products from the highly-regarded brand in 6 years. The new Reference Class system is made up of three components – a stereo power amp, a network audio control player and a speaker system. The amp uses a JENO Digital Engine to eliminate jitter and nip noise in the bud, and Load Adaptive Phase Calibration (LAPC) for flat amplitude-phase frequency delivery. It features GaN for high speed switching while keeping signal loss low, a proprietary digital link input, analog XLR input, analog RCA input, bi-wiring speaker terminals, and a silent linear power supply.

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DesignCon 2015’s Thursday (January 29th) keynote speaker will be Dr. Alex Lidow, CEO and co-founder of Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC). For most of his career, Alex has focused on improving the efficiency of power conversion in hopes of reducing the environmental impact of energy production and consumption. As an R&D engineer at International Rectifier, he co-invented the HEXFET power MOSFET. The patents from this invention brought in more than $900M. Alex holds numerous additional patents in power semiconductor technology, including basic patents in power MOSFETs as well as in GaN FETs. He recently co-authored the first textbook on GaN transistors, “GaN Transistors for Efficient Power Conversion”. You can catch Alex’s keynote speech at DesignCon 2015 on Thursday, January 29, 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM.

EDN
December 3, 2014
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Practical wireless power systems need to address the convenience factor of such systems. Standards such as the A4WP Class 3 have defined a broad coil impedance range that address the convenience factor and can be used as a starting point to compare the performance of the amplifiers. In this installment of WiGaN both the ZVS Class-D and Class-E amplifiers will be tested at 6.78 MHz to the A4WP Class 3 standard.

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The EPC2101 GaN power monolithic half bridge offers power systems designers a solution that increases efficiency and power density. For a complete buck converter, system efficiency approaches 87% at 14 A, and over 82% at 30 A when switching at 500 kHz and converting from 28 V to 1 V while reducing the board area occupied by transistors by 50% when compared to a discrete solution.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — November 2014 — EPC announces the EPC2101, 60 V enhancement-mode monolithic GaN transistor half bridge. By integrating two eGaN^® power FETs into a single device, interconnect inductances and the interstitial space needed on the PCB are eliminated, resulting in a 50% reduction in board area occupied by the transistors. This increases both efficiency (especially at higher frequencies) and power density, while reducing assembly costs to the end user’s power conversion system. The EPC2101 is ideal for high frequency DC-DC conversion.

Gallium Nitride (GaN) FETS are poised to replace silicon power devices in voltage regulators and DC-DC power supplies. Their switching speeds are significantly faster and their R_DS(on) is lower than silicon MOSFETS. That can lead to higher power efficiency power sources, which is good for all of us. If you're designing power circuits with GaN devices, you need a grasp of the device's switching speed.

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EPC2105 GaN half bridge offers power systems designers a solution that increases efficiency and power density for complete buck converter systems approaching 98% at 10 A when switching at 300 kHz and converting from 48 V to 12 V, and 84% at 14 A when switching at 300 kHz and converting from 48 V to 1.0 V.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — November 2014 — EPC announces the EPC2105, 80 V enhancement-mode monolithic GaN transistor half bridge. By integrating two eGaN^® power FETs into a single device, interconnect inductances and the interstitial space needed on the PCB are eliminated. This increases both efficiency (especially at higher frequencies) and power density, while reducing assembly costs to the end user’s power conversion system. The EPC2105 is ideal for high frequency DC-DC conversion and enables efficient single stage conversion from 48 V directly to 1 V system loads.