When a new technology is introduced, it is not reasonable to think that engineers will intuitively know how to effectively and efficiently take advantage of the performance enhancements that the new technology offers – there is always a learning curve. This is being borne out in the case of the rapidly emerging technology of high performance gallium nitride transistors.

GaN FET technology was made available to the general power conversion engineering community in mid-2010 when Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) introduced the industry’s first commercially available GaN transistor. Since that time, EPC has continued on two parallel paths – one to expand their portfolio of products and the other to share what it learns about the use of the technology with power conversion systems design engineers. One of these educational efforts has been to work with the editors of Power Electronics magazine and publish a bi-monthly series of articles on the characteristics of GaN technology and its applications.

This series is entitled eGaN FET -- Power Silicon Shoot Out. Articles in the series took on both basic issues and specific applications using gallium nitride components. It is timely to make a quick review of the sixteen articles to make certain that we have accomplished the goal of assisting engineers in climbing the learning curve. This retrospective look will give us insight into what further topics and studies are needed to advance the adoption of GaN technology, the need to learn is never finished.

By: JOHAN STRYDOM, Ph. D., Vice President, Applications, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation
MICHAEL DE ROOIJ, Ph.D., Executive Director of Applications Engineering, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation
DAVID REUSCH, PH.D., Director, Applications, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation

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For a power system designer who has worked with a power MOSFET, upgrading to an enhancement mode GaN transistor is straightforward. The basic operating characteristics are quite similar and yet there are a few characteristics that need to be considered in an efficient design in order to extract the maximum benefit from this new generation device. EEWeb By: Alex Lidow July, 2013 More ...

EPC9107 demonstrates size reduction and efficiency enhancement for power conversion achieved using high frequency switching eGaN power transistors

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—June, 2013 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) introduces the EPC9107, a fully functional buck power conversion demonstration circuit.  This board is a 9 V-28 V input to 3.3 V, 15 A maximum output current, 1MHz buck converter.  It uses the EPC2015< eGaN FET in conjunction with the LM5113 100V half-bridge gate driver from Texas Instruments. The EPC9107 demonstrates the reduced size and performance capabilities of high switching frequency eGaN FETs when coupled with this dedicated eGaN driver.

The EPC9107 demonstration board is 3” square and contains a fully closed-loop buck converter with optimized control loop. The complete power stage including eGaN FETs, driver, inductor and input/output caps is in an ultra compact 0.5” x 0.5” layout to showcase the performance that can be achieved using the eGaN FETs with the LM5113 eGaN driver.

Since gallium nitride (GaN) based power devices have a vast potential to grow in usage, this market opportunity continues to attract more new suppliers. As a result, the list of manufacturers of GaN technology based power devices is steadily expanding. How2Power June, 2013 More ...

Packaging has its downsides: It increases the footprint and the price of a power MOSFET, while degrading its performance through unwanted increases in resistance and inductance. The best solution is to ditch the package, a step that allows GaN HEMTs to be cost-competitive with silicon incumbents, argues Alex Lidow from Efficient Power Conversion Corporation.

Compound Semiconductor
June, 2013

In a featured interview with EEWeb Pulse EPC’s CEO, Alex Lidow, discusses what steps need to be taken to help with wide adoption of GaN devices.

EEWeb Pulse
June, 2013

The first installment in a new monthly column by Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC, introduces the concept that GaN-on-silicon power devices could be a superior replacement for the aging power MOSFET.

EEWeb.com
By: Alex Lidow
June, 2013

Even though the eGaN FET was designed and optimized as a power-switching device, it also exhibits good RF characteristics. This article, the first of a two-part series on RF performance, focuses on RF characterization in the frequency range of 200 MHz through 2.5 GHz.

By: Michael de Rooij, Ph.D., Executive Director of Applications Engineering, Efficient Power Conversion
Johan Strydom, Ph.D., Vice President of Applications, Efficient Power Conversion
Matthew Meiller, President, Peak Gain Wireless

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It has been three years since the commercialization of gallium nitride (GaN) devices as MOSFET replacements in a commercial DC-DC application. With the emergence of GaN devices, coupled with now attainable applications previously not achievable with MOSFET-based FETs, a favorable stage has been set for GaN-device developers to release emerging application potential largely unimagined and untapped.

EETimes Asia
May 16, 2013
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800684828_480200_TA_f13f883a.HTM

By: Andy Extance, Power Dev’
April, 2013

Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC), Fairchild Semiconductor, GeneSiC Semiconductor, ROHM Semiconductor, and Transphorm tell Andy Extance and Power Dev’ how they’re turning module and system makers toward wide bandgap devices.

http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=157700&p=6

This article is an overview of the elements needed to assemble a wireless power transfer system. The EPC9104 demonstration system from EPC showcases the high frequency, voltage, and power required for efficient wireless power transfer.

EDN Europe
March 2013
http://mag.electronics-eetimes.com/EDNE_MARCH_2013/#/26/

Optimizing PCB layout for an eGaN FET based point of load (POL) buck converter will reduce parasitics, thus leading to improved efficiency, faster switching speeds, and reduced device voltage overshoot compared to conventional MOSFET based designs.

By David Reusch, Ph.D., Director, Applications, Efficient Power Conversion

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By: Steve Taranovich, EDN
March 15, 2013

As the race toward leadership in the power element continues to evolve, industry experts have said that by mid-2013 about half a dozen GaN, Si, and SiC suppliers will reveal process enhancements, new architectures, and the latest new capabilities that will bring new choices and tools to the industry. http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4409627/1/Si-vs--GaN-vs--SiC--Which-process-and-supplier-are-best-for-my-power-design-

Author: By Alix Paultre, Editorial Director, PSD
Date: 3/12/2013

In this podcast, we talk to Alex Lidow of Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) about GaN devices and their impact on the power industry. EPC is a leader in enhancement-mode Gallium Nitride based power management devices. EPC was the first to introduce enhancement-mode Gallium-Nitride-on-Silicon (eGaN^®) FETs as power MOSFET replacements in applications such as point-of-load converters, Power over Ethernet (PoE), server and computer DC-DC converters, LED lighting, cell phones, RF transmission, solar micro-inverters, and class-D audio amplifiers with device performance many times greater than silicon power MOSFETs.

http://www.powersystemsdesign.com/paultre-on-power---power-gan?a=1&c=6282

EPC9010 development board features dedicated eGaN driver to facilitate rapid design of high frequency switching power conversion systems using the 100 V EPC2016 eGaN FET

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— February, 2012 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) introduces the EPC9010 development board to make it easier for engineers to start designing with a 100 V enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN) field effect transistor (FET) in applications such as high-speed DC-DC power supplies, point-of-load converters, class D audio amplifiers, hard-switched and high frequency circuits.

The EPC9010 development board is a 100 V maximum device voltage, 7 A maximum output current, half bridge with onboard gate drives, featuring the EPC2016 enhancement mode (eGaN) field effect transistor (FET). The purpose of this development board is to simplify the evaluation process of eGaN FETs by including all the critical components on a single board that can be easily connected into any existing converter.

Designers of point of load (POL) converters used in 24 VDC systems traditionally have had to decide between the high cost of an isolated converter and the low frequency and efficiency of a buck converter. When compared with the 12 V POL converter common in computing systems, the higher voltage of the 24 V POL converter increases FET voltage to at least 40 volts to accommodate switch-node ringing and increases commutation and C_OSS losses. eGaN FETs, from EPC, offer ultra-low Q_GD for low commutation losses and low Q_OSS for lower losses when charging and discharging the output capacitance. In addition, the innovative Land Grid Array (LGA), wafer level packaging of EPC’s eGaN FETs allow ultralow inductance in both the high frequency power loop and gate drive loop, and most importantly, the path common to these loops, known as the common source inductance (CSI) to help minimize current commutation losses. Low charge and CSI of eGaN FETs allow designers to push power density higher by pushing frequency higher without the efficiency penalty of traditional MOSFETs.

David Reusch, Ph.D., Director, Applications
Stephen L. Colino, V.P., Sales & Marketing

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The ability of enhancement mode gallium nitride based power devices, such as the eGaN® FET, to achieve higher efficiencies and higher switching frequencies than possible with silicon MOSFETs has been demonstrated for a variety of applications. With improvements in switching figure of merit provided by eGaN FETs, the packaging and PCB layout parasitics are critical to high performance. This first part of this article will study the effect of parasitic inductance on performance for eGaN FET and MOSFET based point of load (POL) buck converters operating at a switching frequency of 1 MHz, an input voltage of 12 V, an output voltage of 1.2 V, and an output current up to 20 A.

By David Reusch, Ph.D., Director, Applications, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation

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EPC CEO and applications experts will conduct a half-day seminar and technical presentations on GaN FET technology and applications at the IEEE APEC 2013 power electronics industry conference.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — February, 2013 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, the world’s leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN®) power FETs will be presenting an educational seminar and several application-focused technical presentations at APEC 2013. The conference will be held in Long Beach, California from March 17th through the 21st.

The race to commercialize Gan-on-Si technology for power conversion applications continues at an intensified pace. As of December 2012 more than twenty semiconductor vendors have participate in this race led by a group of about seven vendors.

www.bodospower.com

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