In March 2010 Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) proudly launched our GaN technology at the CIPS conference in Nuremberg, Germany. Parts and development kits were readily available off-the shelf and therefore designers could immediately get started with a new state-of-the-art semiconductor technology.
At that time, we listed four key attributes we believed a new semiconductor technology needed in order to be really disruptive to the end markets. A lot has happened in the six years since. GaN has continued to ascend as the presumptive replacement for the aging power MOSFET, yet there are still a few design engineers and technical managers that remain skeptical. So let’s look again at these four key attributes and see where GaN stands in addressing them.