The GaN power device industry has probably generated less than $2.5M revenues in 2011, as only 2 companies (IRF & EPC Corp.) are selling products on the open market. However, the overall GaN activity has seen extra revenues as R&D contracts, qualification tests and sampling for qualified customers was extremely buoyant.

http://www.news10.com/story/17735484/power-gan-2012?clienttype=printable

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – April, 2012 - Efficient Power Conversion Corporation, (www.epc-co.com) the leader in enhancement mode gallium nitride FET technology, announces today that it has been recognized with inclusion in the EE Times Silicon 60 list of 60 Emerging Startups. Companies are selected by the editorial team at EE Times based on a mix of criteria including: technology, intended market, maturity, financial position, investment profile, and executive leadership.

"It is an honor to receive this recognition from EE Times as one of the hottest emerging electronics companies and as EE Times has noted, 'an emerging company worthy of tracking,'" commented Alex Lidow, CEO, Efficient Power Conversion Corporation.

With eGaN® FETs' high-performance capabilities, we have seen rapid adoption in applications for efficient DC/DC conversion, POL converters, Class D audio amplifier and high frequency circuits. Texas Instruments’ introduction of the industry's first 100V, half-bridge GaN FET driver (LM5113), optimized for use with enhancement-mode GaN (eGaN) field-effect transistors (FETs),has further propelled such an accelerated adoption pace in applications like high-performance telecom power supplies, networking and datacom centers.

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Written by Peter Clarke - 3/7/2012 2:20 PM EST

LONDON - The market for power devices implemented in gallium nitride was less than $2.5 million in 2011, according to market research firm Yole Developpement (Lyon, France). However, there is a great deal of R&D activity and Yole sees the power GaN market growing to nearly $0 million in 2012 and $500 million in 2016.

Alex Lidow, the co-inventor of the HEXFET power MOSFET and CEO of Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), describes how their Enhancement Mode Gallium Nitride Transistors (eGAN FETs) work to bring tremendous size and performance advantages over silicon power MOSFETs.

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

Written by industry experts, "GaN Transistors for Efficient Power Conversion" provides both theory and applications for gallium nitride transistors

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - January 2012 - Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (www.epc-co.com) announces the publication of a textbook designed to provide power system design engineers basic technical and application-focused information on how to design more efficient power conversion systems using gallium nitride-based transistors.

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."

http://www2.electronicproducts.com/Driving_GaN_FETs_becomes_reality-article-poypo_TI_NatSemi_jan2012-html.aspx