With Electronic Power Steering (EPS), the hydraulic system is replaced with an electric motor that aids the driver only when needed. Its digital assistance control can be modified online to adapt to driving conditions. There are, however, several design constraints to consider. One is that the driver does not want to lack the haptic feedback from the tires, especially when a vehicle is large, such as a truck. Other constraints are determined by safety regulations, particularly for automatic guided vehicles. These constraints require adopting an efficient, accurate and redundant system. Gallium nitride technology helps the designers in all these areas.

Power Electronics News
March, 2023
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With the increase in government mandates to combat climate change, automakers are moving quickly to leverage new technology to respond by switching from the internal combustion engine to electric-drive vehicles. This article presents the design of a 2 kW, two-phase 48 V/12 V bi-directional converter using GaN FETs that achieves 96% efficiency and is targeted for the 48 V mild hybrid system.

PSD North America
March, 2023
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An exploration of a GaN-based design of a 2 kW 48V/12V bi-directional power module for 48 V mild hybrid electric vehicles.

Electronics Today
January, 2023
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EPC introduces the 80 V, AEC-Q101-qualified EPC2252 GaN FET, offering designers significantly smaller and more efficient solutions than silicon MOSFETs for automotive-grade lidar, 48 V – 12 V DC-DC conversion, and low inductance motor drives.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — January 2023 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, the world’s leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN^®) FETs and ICs, expands the selection of automotive, off-the-shelf gallium nitride transistors with the introduction of the 80 V, 11 mΩ EPC2252 that delivers 75 A pulsed current in a 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm footprint. The EPC2252 offers power system designers significantly smaller and more efficient devices than silicon MOSFETs for automotive-grade lidar found in autonomous driving and other ADAS applications, 48  V – 12 V DC-DC conversion, and low inductance motor drives.

Power-conversion technologies are experiencing the first tectonic shift since the move from bipolar to MOS. That shift, of course, is due to the viral adoption of wide-bandgap power devices. At this point, GaN is more than a specialty technology; it is a broad-scale replacement for silicon MOSFETs in applications ranging from 30 V up to 650 V — a multibillion-dollar market.

Power Electronics News
December, 2022
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EPC introduces two new 80 V AEC-Q101 qualified GaN FETs, offering designers significantly smaller and more efficient solutions than silicon MOSFETs for automotive 48 V- 12 V DC-DC conversion, infotainment, and lidar for autonomous driving.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — November 2022 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, the world’s leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN^®) FETs and ICs, expands the selection of automotive, off-the-shelf gallium nitride transistors with the introduction of 80 V, 6 mΩ EPC2204A that delivers 125 A pulsed current in a 2.5 mm x 1.5 mm footprint and the 80 V, 3.2 mΩ EPC2218A that delivers 231 A pulsed current is a 3.5 mm x 1.95 mm footprint, offering designers significantly smaller and more efficient devices than silicon MOSFETs for automotive DC-DC for 48V-12V conversion, infotainment, and lidar for autonomous driving.

From Nov. 15 to 18, electronica 2022 will bring the international electronics industry together at the Munich exhibition grounds. Wide Bandgap Semiconductors, Renewable Energies, Smart Grid, and Energy Storage will be the major topics covered by the Power Electronics Forum at electronica 2022. In this podcast, onsemi president and CEO Hassane El-Khoury, Silanna Semiconductor North America CEO Mark Drucker, and of Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) CEO Alex Lidow will introduce the Power Electronics Forum. Interview with Alex Lidow starts at 31:55

EETimes
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Easy Engineering interviewed EPC’s Director of Marketing, Renee Yawger, on the current state of GaN adoption and the future of GaN technology.

Easy Engineering
May, 2022
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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) introduces the latest addition to its family of automotive qualified transistors and integrated circuits offering higher performance and smaller solution size for time-of-flight (ToF) lidar applications including robotics, drones, 3D sensing, and autonomous cars.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— April 2022 — EPC announces the introduction of the EPC2221, a common source dual gallium nitride FET rated at 100 V, 58 mΩ, and 20 A pulsed current.  The EPC2221 can be used in lidar systems for  robots, surveillance systems, drones, autonomous cars, and vacuum cleaners.

EPC and Analog Devices introduce reference design using a new Analog controller fully optimized to drive EPC GaN FETs. The combination of the new Analog LTC7890 synchronous GaN buck controller with ultra-efficient eGaN^® FETs from EPC (Efficient Power Conversion) enables up to 2 MHz switching frequency for high power density and low-cost DC-DC Conversion.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—  March, 2022 — EPC announces the availability of the EPC9160, a dual output synchronous buck converter reference design board operating at 2 MHz switching frequency that converts an input voltage of 9 V to 24 V to a 3.3 V or 5 V output voltage and delivers up to 15 A continuous current for both outputs. Thanks to the high switching frequency the converter size is very small, only 23 mm x 22 mm for both outputs, and the inductor height is only 3 mm.

Automotive 48 V/12 V converters are essential in modern hybrid electric vehicles, as the energy is exchanged between the 48 V and 12 V buses. This two-voltage system accommodates legacy 12 V systems and provides higher power for 48V to loads such as vacuum and water pumps, electric super chargers, steering, and audio systems. Among all the requirements for the 48 V/12 V converter, efficiency, power density, size and cost are on the top of the list. This article addresses these design criteria by employing the GaN ePower™ Stage, EPC23101, and compares it with a previous design using discrete EPC2206 devices.

Bodo’s Power Systems
March, 2022
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EPC’s GaN Experts will be available during APEC, exhibiting various demonstrations showcasing how GaN technology’s superior performance is transforming the delivery of power across many industries, including computing, communications, and emobility.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — March 2022 — The EPC team will be delivering multiple technical presentations, as well as a professional seminar on gallium nitride (GaN) technology and applications at the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC 2022) in Houston from March 20^th through the 24^th (See detailed schedule below). In addition, the company will demonstrate its latest eGaN^® FETs and ICs in a large variety of customer end products in booth #1307.

The EPC9165 is a two-phase, regulated output voltage, 48 V – 14 V bidirectional converter that delivers 2 kW with 96.8% peak efficiency

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— February 2022 — EPC announces the availability of the EPC9165, a 2 kW, two-phase 48 V – 14 V bidirectional converter that operates with 97 % peak efficiency in a small footprint. This solution is ideal for high-density and high-power 48V battery packs such as those required for eMobility and light mobility.

This article presents the design and performance of an automotive buck/reverse-boost converter with GaN for efficient 48 V power distribution.

Electronics Today
December/January Edition
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Demonstrating the design of a bi-directional DC-DC converter for automotive 48 V power distribution, showing how GaN technology is a powerful enabler for efficient electrification. The trend towards increasing electrification in the automotive industry enables car makers both to deliver new innovations to market cost-effectively and to meet increasingly stringent emissions legislation. Raising the vehicle’s main bus voltage to 48 V helps meet the demands of power-hungry systems such as the start-stop motor/generator of a mild hybrid vehicle, as well as loads such as electric power steering, electric supercharging, and vacuum and water pumps.

Bodo’s Power Systems
December, 2021
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Wide-bandgap semiconductors like gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) are changing how people are thinking about power. In this video, Electronic Design talks to Alex Lidow, Founder and CEO of Efficient Powert Conversion (EPC), about the growing role of GaN in advanced embedded applications like automotive, among others such as space.

Electronic Design
January, 2022
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The year 2021 was a transitional year in which the world decided to open its doors to GaN. In this interview with Power Electronics News during CES week, GaN industry experts confirmed that GaN is now proving its superiority over silicon.

Power Electronics News
January, 2022
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The combination of the Renesas two-phase synchronous GaN boost controller with ultra-efficient eGaN^® FETs from EPC (Efficient Power Conversion) enables high power density and low-cost DC-DC conversion.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—  January, 2022 — EPC announces the availability of the EPC9166, a 500 W DC-DC demo board that converts a 12 V input to 48 V output. The EPC9166 demo board demonstrates the Renesas ISL81807 80 V two-phase synchronous boost controller with the latest generation EPC2218 eGaN FETs from EPC to achieve greater than 96.5% efficiency in a 12 V input to 48 V regulated output conversion with 500 kHz switching frequency.  The output voltage can be configured to 36 V, 48 V, and 60 V. The board can deliver 480 W power without a heatsink.

The EPC9163 is a two-phase, 48 V – 12 V bidirectional converter that delivers 2 kW with 96.5% efficiency in small solution size for mild-hybrid cars and battery power backup units.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— November, 2021 — EPC announces the availability of the EPC9163, a 2 kW, two-phase 48 V – 12 V bidirectional converter that operates with 96.5 % efficiency in a very small footprint. The design of this demonstration board is scalable; that is, two converters can be paralleled to achieve 4 kW or three converters can be paralleled to achieve 6 kW. The board features eight EPC2218 100 V eGaN^® FETs and is controlled by a module that includes the Microchip dsPIC33CK256MP503 16-bit digital controller.

GaN devices and applications, such as lidar, DC-DC conversion, motor drive, and low-cost satellites using gallium nitride FETs and ICs, form the focus of this book, GaN Power Devices and Applications.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — October 2021 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, the world’s leader in enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power FETs and ICs, announces the publication of a valuable learning resource for professional engineers, systems designers, and electrical engineering students seeking the latest information on gallium nitride technology and applications.