Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) introduced a low-side gate driver for use with MOSFETs and Gallium-Nitride (GaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) in high-density power converters. The new LM5114 drives GaN FETs and MOSFETs in low-side applications, such as synchronous rectifiers and power factor converters. Together with the LM5113, the industry's first 100-V half-bridge GaN FET driver announced in 2011, the family provides a complete isolated DC/DC conversion driver solution for high-power GaN FETs and MOSFETs used in high-performance telecom, networking and data center applications. For more information, samples and an evaluation board, visit www.ti.com/gan

EL SEGUNDO, Calif-January 3, 2012 — The National LM5113 from Texas Instruments has been honored with an Electronic Products’ Product of the Year award. The editors of Electronic Products — a leading trade publication for electronic design engineers — evaluated thousands of products launched in 2011. The winning products were selected on the basis of innovative design, significant advancement in technology or application and substantial achievement in price and performance.

The LM5113 is the industry’s first driver designed specifically for enhancement mode gallium nitride FETs. Enhancement-mode GaN FETs enable new levels of efficiency and power density compared to standard metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) due to their low on-resistance (Rdson) and gate charge (Qg) as well as their ultra-small footprint, but driving them reliably presented new challenges. National’s LM5113 driver integrated circuit (IC) overcomes these challenges, enabling power designers to realize the benefits of GaN FETs in a variety of popular power topologies.

"We congratulate Texas Instruments on this prestigious award," said Alex Lidow, co-founder and CEO for Efficient Power Conversion Corporation. "The release of the LM5113 bridge driver has been instrumental in accelerating the adoption of our eGaN® FETs by offering designers a true plug and play solution. The LM5113 bridge driver unlocks the efficiency capability of eGaN FETs, enabling designers to achieve new performance benchmarks in power and system density."

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National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:NSM) today introduced the industry’s first 100V half-bridge gate driver optimized for use with enhancement-mode Gallium-Nitride (GaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) in high-voltage power converters. Enhancement-mode GaN FETs enable new levels of efficiency and power density compared to standard metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) due to their low on-resistance (Rdson) and gate charge (Qg) as well as their ultra-small footprint, but driving them reliably presents significant new challenges. National’s LM5113 driver integrated circuit (IC) eliminates these challenges, enabling power designers to realize the benefits of GaN FETs in a variety of popular power topologies.

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Microsemi is working with Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) www.epc-co.com in the development of a complete line of high performance FETS for high reliability space and military applications. A jointly researched paper entitled "Enhancement Mode Gallium Nitride Characteristics Under Long Term Stress" will be presented at the Government Microcircuit Applications and Critical Technology Conference (GOMAC), March 21-24, 2011 in Orlando, Florida. The study covers the reliability testing results and demonstrates the stability of the devices at temperature and under radiation exposure.

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