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How GaN Power Transistors Drive High-Performance Lidar: Generating ultrafast pulsed power with GaN FETs

How GaN Power Transistors Drive High-Performance Lidar: Generating ultrafast pulsed power with GaN FETs

Light detection and ranging (lidar) is a versatile light-based remote sensing technology that recently has been the subject of great attention. It has shown up in a number of media venues and has even led to public debate about the engineering choices of a well-known electric car company, Tesla Motors. While this article is not going to enter the fray, it will provide some background on lidar and discuss its strong connection to power electronics technologies.

Published in: IEEE Power Electronics Magazine ( Volume: 4, Issue: 1, March 2017 )
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eGaN Technology from Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) Takes a Quantum Leap in Both Performance and Cost

eGaN Technology from Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) Takes a Quantum Leap in Both Performance and Cost

EPC introduces EPC2045 and EPC2047 eGaN® FETs that are half the size of prior generation eGaN transistors with significantly higher performance.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — March 2017 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, the world’s leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN®) power FETs and ICs advances the performance capability while lowering the cost of off-the-shelf gallium nitride transistors with the introduction of the EPC2045 (7 mΩ, 100 V) and the EPC2047 (10 mΩ, 200 V) eGaN FETs. Applications for the EPC2045 include single stage 48 V to load Open Rack server architectures, point-of-load converters, USB-C, and LiDAR. Wireless charging, multi-level AC-DC power supplies, robotics, and solar micro inverters are example applications for the 200 V EPC2047.

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The Tech Blog Writer Podcast 180: Why Gallium Nitride Is About to Disrupt Silicon

The Tech Blog Writer Podcast 180: Why Gallium Nitride Is About to Disrupt Silicon

At the CES show in Las Vegas this year, EPC (Efficient Power Conversion) showcased how GaN is a core technology behind autonomous vehicles, the house of the future without power cords, the connected car, and non-invasive colonoscopies with an x-ray system within a pill. Replacing silicon, one of the most prevalent types of semiconductor around, with a different material, Gallium Nitride, commonly abbreviated as GaN — or “eGaN,” EPCS new, improved form of GaN. Silicon enabled Intel to build an entire empire, but could this be displaced by GaN? This is an episode that you can expect to learn a huge amount and how it appears that the days of Silicon are numbered in this digital age where companies must disrupt or face disruption. Anyone interested in technology and where the industry is heading will love this episode. Guest Info Dr. Alex Lidow the CEO and co-founder of Efficient Power Conversion onto the show to learn What is GaN? Why GaN? and where is it heading?

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The Tech Blog Writer Podcast
January 20, 2017

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EPC Announces the Opening of Blacksburg, Virginia eGaN FET and IC Applications Center and the Appointment of Suvankar Biswas, Ph.D. as Senior Applications Engineer

 EPC Announces the Opening of Blacksburg, Virginia eGaN FET and IC Applications Center and the Appointment of Suvankar Biswas, Ph.D. as Senior Applications Engineer

Adding to its breadth of applications research and support for EPC customer evaluation and use of GaN® FETs and ICs, the company announces the opening of an applications center and the appointment of Suvankar Biswas, Ph.D. as senior applications engineer.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— January 2017 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) is proud to announce the opening of an Applications Center in Blacksburg, Virginia.  This center will increase the reach of EPC to support research and development for the applications of enhancement-mode gallium nitride transistors and ICs.  In addition to traditional FET and IC power conversion applications, GaN technology has enabled emerging applications such as wireless power transfer, LiDAR for autonomous vehicles, and envelope tracking for high bandwidth 4G and 5G communications.

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Podcast: Bloomberg Radio Interview with Alex Lidow at CES 2017

Podcast: Bloomberg Radio Interview with Alex Lidow at CES 2017

EPC CEO and Co-Founder, Alex Lidow, discusses the life changing applications on display at CES with Bloomberg Radio. Applications such as LiDAR for autonomous cars with the potential to disrupt the transportation industry and wireless power with the potential to eliminate power cords are highlighted as well as how GaN enables these new technologies.

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Bloomberg
January, 2017

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EPC Development Board Shows the Ultra Fast Transition Capability of eGaN FETs over MOSFETs Giving Superior LiDAR System Performance When Used in Autonomous Vehicles

EPC Development Board Shows the Ultra Fast Transition Capability of eGaN FETs over MOSFETs Giving Superior LiDAR System Performance When Used in Autonomous Vehicles

Ultra fast transition eGaN® FETs used on the EPC9126 can drive laser diodes with high current pulses and total pulse widths as low as 5 ns, thus enhancing the quality of information a LiDAR system will detect, including the accuracy, precision, and processing speed.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — January 2017 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) announces the availability of the EPC9126, a 100 V high current pulsed laser diode driver evaluation board. In a LiDAR system, used for detecting objects in autonomous vehicle applications, speed and accuracy of detection is critical. As demonstrated by this board, the rapid transition capability of eGaN FETs provide power pulses to drive the laser up to ten times faster than an equivalent MOSFET, thus enhancing the overall performance of a LiDAR system.

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Velodyne Says It's Got a "Breakthrough" in Solid State Lidar Design

Velodyne Says It's Got a "Breakthrough" in Solid State Lidar Design

Lidar is a fantastic sensor for autonomous cars. Most companies developing self-driving vehicles seem to agree that the massive amount of long range, high accuracy data that you get from lidar is necessary, especially for complicated and variable urban environments. Really, the only reason why there's been so much focus on getting autonomy to work with just cameras and radar is that cameras and radar are cheap, and lidar is ridiculously expensive.

IEEE Spectrum
December, 13, 2016
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Faster, Smarter, Better: The Next Chip Revolution

Barron's

Faster, Smarter, Better: The Next Chip Revolution

The world around us will soon be engulfed by machines that affect our living spaces, our bodies, and our experience of light and sound, powered by a novel combination of semiconductors and miniature engines. Tasks as basic as charging a smartphone or cooking an egg—and as complex as scanning for colon cancer or powering flying drones on long journeys—stand to be transformed.

Barron's
October 22, 2016
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Tesla starts Autopilot upgrades tonight

Tesla starts Autopilot upgrades tonight

Tesla Motors is releasing a new version of Autopilot overnight, adding features the company says will make it safer and more reliable. Investigators are probing what role the self-driving system played in a pair of fatal crashes in Florida and China.

Silicon Beat
September 21, 2016
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LiDAR, not just radar and cameras, will be critical to self-driving car safety

LiDAR, not just radar and cameras, will be critical to self-driving car safety

The chief technology officer of a technology supplier that enables Tesla's semi-autonomous Autopilot driving technology believes the carmaker is pushing the safety envelope too far.

"It is not designed to cover all possible crash situations in a safe manner," Amnon Shashua, CTO and executive chairman at Israel-based Mobileye NV, told Reuters Wednesday.

Computerworld
September 15, 2016
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How This Tech in Self-Driving Cars Is Paving a Road Beyond Silicon

How This Tech in Self-Driving Cars Is Paving a Road Beyond Silicon

In the future, self-driving cars will require laser-based sensing tech, and these systems will need new types of high-speed transistors and chips that can beat out silicon.

That’s the assertion of Alex Lidow, a Stanford PhD physicist, entrepreneur, and CEO and founder of Efficient Power Conversion (commonly called EPC), a company based in El Segundo, Calif. that makes transistors and chips out of a material that operates more quickly and efficiently—and costs less than silicon.

Fortune
September 8, 2016
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PSDcast - Alex Lidow of EPC on the state of GaN development

PSDcast - Alex Lidow of EPC on the state of GaN development

In this PSDcast Alex Lidow, CEO and Co-founder of Efficient Power Conversion, talks to Alix Paultre of Power Systems Design about the state of GaN development. Now that the industry has finally embraced what GaN can do with multiple vendors and solutions, we are now seeing real design-ins and products based on GaN power devices.

Power Systems Design
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Why GaN circuits make better Lidar

Why GaN circuits make better Lidar

In this short video, EPC's Alex Lidow explains why GaN FETs can comprise circuits able to deliver Lidar resolutions down to a couple inches. Conventional silicon FETs performing the same tasks would be able to resolve images only down to a few feet. The secret is in the super-fast rise and fall times made possible by the GaN FETs.

Design World
April 11, 2016
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EPC to Show Life-changing Applications Using eGaN Technology at 2016 Applied Power Electronics and Exposition Conference (APEC)

EPC to Show Life-changing Applications Using eGaN Technology at 2016 Applied Power Electronics and Exposition Conference (APEC)

EPC will exhibit more than 20 demonstrations showing how GaN technology’s superior performance is changing the way we live and company experts will deliver six technical presentations on GaN FET technology at APEC® 2016, the premier global event in applied power electronics

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — March, 2016 — The EPC team will be presenting six technical presentations on gallium nitride (GaN) technology and applications at APEC 2016 in Long Beach, California from March 20th through the 24th. In addition, the company will feature its latest eGaN® FETs and IC’s as well as their customers’ end products that are enabled by eGaN technology. Demonstrations will include wireless power systems that span the full power range of Qi and AirFuel standards and a multi-mode solution, a single stage 48 V – 1 V DC-DC converter, 3-D real-time LiDAR imaging camera, and an LTE compatible envelope tracking supply in booth #2244.

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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) Introduces eGaN Power Transistor Enabling Superior Resolution in Augmented Reality and Autonomous Vehicle Applications

Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) Introduces eGaN Power Transistor Enabling Superior Resolution in Augmented Reality and Autonomous Vehicle Applications

New EPC2040 eGaN® FET offers extremely fast and consistent switching, enabling greater resolution and accuracy in applications dependent upon pulsed laser drivers, which include LiDAR systems used for guidance in 3D sensing in augmented reality systems and autonomous vehicles

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — February 2016 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) announces the EPC2040 power transistor, an extremely small, fast switching gallium nitride power transistor that enables superior resolution, faster response time, and greater accuracy for high speed end-use applications. High stability of the threshold over temperature ensures the high stability as the laser heats up. For example, this product is ideal for pulsed laser drivers used in LiDAR technology, the technology at the heart of autonomous vehicle guidance systems and augmented reality platforms. The end result of the EPC2040’s superior performance is increased accuracy and higher resolution in these systems.

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