GaN技术杂谈

使用外科手术机器人进行微创手术，为外科医生提供了前所未有的控制力，使其能够实现更高水平的精确度，从而降低患者的风险和创伤并加快恢复速度。许多电机用于控制各种机器人的附肢，如手臂、关节和工具控制，这使得手术机器人具备所需的自由度（DOF）和灵活性，以执行极其精细的操作。因此，电机控制电路的重量和尺寸是这种机器人设计中的重要因素，因为它们直接影响在手术过程中操纵机器人附肢的电机的尺寸。

增强型氮化镓电力设备（eGaN® FETs 和 ICs）为用户提供了差异化其最终产品的途径。这项新技术在我们常用的电源和电路中提供了显著更高的效率，推动了我们的设备和电子设备的发展。

本文最初于 2018 年 5 月 16 日星期三发布在化合物半导体网站上。了解更多有关 eGaN 技术和 EPC 氮化镓解决方案在汽车应用中的应用。

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a better semiconductor than silicon. There are many crystals that are better than silicon, but the problem has always been that they are far too expensive to be used in every application where silicon is used. But, GaN can be grown as an inexpensive thin layer on top of a standard silicon wafer enabling devices that are faster, smaller, more efficient, and less costly than their aging silicon counterparts.

This post was originally published on TI’s TI E2E Community “Power House” Blog. Learn more about eGaN technology here and EPC GaN solutions here.

In January of 2016 I made several predictions for the then-nascent year. Predictions were made for new markets such as wireless charging, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, and advances in medical diagnostics and internet access. Progress in these markets was made on all fronts, sometimes faster and sometimes slower than anticipated. So here we are about to start a new year and, perhaps foolishly I am ready once again to predict the future.

Class-D audio amplifiers have traditionally been looked down upon by audiophiles, and in most cases, understandably so. Switching transistors for Class-D amplifiers have never had the right combination of performance parameters to produce an amplifier with sufficient open-loop linearity to satisfy the most critical listeners. This restricted the classical analog modulator Class-D systems to lower-power, lower-quality sound systems.

To accomplish the required headline marketing THD+N performance targets, Class-D amplifiers have had to resort to using large amounts of feedback to compensate for their poor open-loop performance. By definition, large amounts of feedback introduce transient intermodulation distortion (TIM), which introduces a ‘harshness’ that hides the warm subtleties and color of the music that were intended for the listening experience.

In past postings , we looked at the applications that have emerged because of new capabilities available with #GaN technology. We also discussed the transformational nature of some of these applications in areas like medicine, telecommunications,human-machine interfaces, and the delivery of electrical power itself (wireless power transfer). GaN technology is entering an era similar to the 80’s and 90’s when the utility of technological improvement was apparent across broad commercial markets. Consequentially, consumers will be willing to pay a premium for the life-style improvements enabled by these improvements thereby accelerating growth of GaN applications for the foreseeable future.