GaN Talk Blog

Learn about what key factors you should consider when selecting a GaN gate driver. Make the best choice for your power electronics design here.

Submitted by Richard Locarni, Director of New Business Development, Sensitron and Brian Miller, Field Application Engineer, EPC

The basic building block used in many power systems is the half bridge which consists of two power FETs in series and their respective gate drivers. While discrete FETs and gate drivers can be used to make this function on a board, often it is advantageous to use a half-bridge module.  There are many benefits of using a half-bridge module including the use of a single pre-qualified part, shorter lead times, and higher performance.  Sensitron (sensitron.com) has been a supplier of power modules for over fifty years, and their latest product is even more attractive due to the use of EPC’s eGaN FETs.  Sensitron collaborated with Efficient Power Corporation to use the recently released EPC2050 GaN FET to develop a 350 V half bridge module. Designed for commercial, industrial, and aerospace applications, the SPG025N035P1B half bridge intelligent power module is rated at 20 A and can be used to control over 5 kW.  Shown in Figure 1 is the significant package size reduction which was achieved by upgrading from Si and SiC to GaN: