The advantages provided by eGaN FETs in hard switching isolated and non-isolated applications have been addressed previously. Here, we demonstrate the ability of the eGaN FET to improve efficiency and output power density in a soft switching application, compared to what is achievable with existing power MOSFET devices.

By David Reusch, Ph.D., Director of Applications, EPC
Power Electronics Technology

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Superior switching speeds of EPC’s eGaN FETs increases the efficiency of power electronics for highly resonant wireless power transfer.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—August 13, 2012 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) today announced a high efficiency wireless power demonstration system utilizing the high frequency switching capability of gallium nitride transistors. eGaN FETs from EPC are an ideal solution for these systems because of their ability to operate efficiently at high frequency, voltage, and power.

Gallium Nitride transistors have been available since Eudyna and Nitronex first introduced depletion-mode RF transistors in about 2005. Since then many new companies have entered the field with both RF transistors (e.g. RFMD, Triquint, Cree, Freescale, Integra, HRL, M/A-COM, and others), and transistors designed to replace power MOSFETs in power conversion applications (e.g. Transphorm, International Rectifier, GaN Systems, microGaN, and Efficient Power Conversion). This article discusses if this ground swell of activity mean that GaN transistors are ready to replace power MOSFETs, and, if so, why?

By Alex Lidow, Ph.D., CEO, EPC
Power Pulse.Net

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Wireless power applications are gaining popularity in many commodity products such as mobile phones chargers. Enhancement mode gallium nitride transistors offer an alternative to MOSFET technology as they can switch fast enough to be ideal for wireless power applications. This article focuses on experimental evaluation of an induction coil wireless energy system using eGaN FETs operating at 6.78 MHz designed to be suitable for multiple 5 W USB based charging loads.

By Johan Strydom, Ph.D., Vice President of Applications, EPC and Johan Strydom, Ph.D., Vice President of Applications, EPC
Power Electronics Technology

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In this article, we show that using GaN Transistors such as Efficient Power Conversion’s eGaN® FETs can improve the efficiency of isolated eighth brick DC-DC converters. This type of power converters is used extensively in mainframes, servers and telecommunication systems, and is available in a variety of sizes, output power capability, and input and output voltage ranges. Its modularity, power density, reliability and versatility have simplified the isolated power supply market.

By Johan Strydom, Ph.D., Vice President of Applications, EPC
Bodo’s Power Systems

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EPC9102 showcases the performance that can be achieved using the EPC2001 eGaN FETs and the LM5113 eGaN FET driver from Texas Instruments

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—May, 2012 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) introduces the EPC9102, a fully functional eighth brick converter. This board is a 36 V – 60 V input to 12 V output, 375 kHz phase-shifted full bridge (PSFB) eighth brick converter with 17 A maximum output current. The EPC9102 uses the 100 V EPC2001 eGaN FETs in conjunction with the recently introduced LM5113 100V half-bridge gate driver from Texas Instruments. The LM5113 is the industry’s first driver to optimally drive and fully release the benefits of enhancement mode gallium nitride FETs. The EPC9102 demonstrates the performance capabilities of high switching frequency eGaN FETs when coupled with this eGaN driver.

Dr. Reusch will be creating benchmark power converter designs and assisting customers in the use of eGaN FETs® for high frequency, high performance power conversion systems

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—May 2012 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) is proud to announce that Dr. David Reusch has joined the EPC engineering team as Director, Applications Engineering.

As a member of the EPC applications team, Dr. Reusch’s focus will be on designing lower loss and higher power density benchmark circuits that demonstrate the benefits of using gallium nitride transistors. His initial focus will be on their use in higher voltage DC-DC converters and resonant, soft-switching converters. Dr. Reusch’s research and experience in these applications will be shared with customers to accelerate their designs using high performance eGaN FETs. His designs will demonstrate GaN transistors’ superior performance over MOSFETs.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—May, 2012 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) CEO Alex Lidow will speak at the private Credit Suisse investor conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, May 22, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time. Dr. Lidow will discuss the growing market for gallium nitride transistors with a focus on EPC’s eGaN® FET technology and products. As a displacement technology, GaN FETs can be used in an array of current MOSFET applications in addition to enabling new high volume applications, such as wireless power and envelope tracking, a method for significant energy savings in communication devices.

Envelope tracking (ET) for radio frequency (RF) amplifiers is not new. But with the ever increasing need for improved cell phone battery life, better base station energy efficiency, and more output power from very costly RF transmitters, the need for improving the RF Power Amplifier (PA) system efficiency through ET has become an intense topic of research and development.

We demonstrate what power and efficiency levels are readily realizable using eGaN FETs in a buck converter for high power envelope tracking applications.

By Johan Strydom, Ph.D., Vice President of Applications, EPC Power Electronics Technology

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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

Gallium nitride has long been known to have useful properties when it comes to electronic components. Even so, its application has largely been confined to more exotic areas of the industry, particularly rf transistors.

But GaN is beginning to find application in what could be considered the mainstream, with some of its proponents suggesting its arrival could mark the beginning of the end for the traditional power mosfet.

By: Graham Pitcher
New Electronics
December 13, 2011
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EPC9101 demonstrates size reduction and efficiency enhancement for buck power conversion achieved using high frequency switching eGaN power transistors

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—October 2011 — Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) introduces the EPC9101, a fully functional buck power conversion demonstration circuit. This board is an 8 V-19 V input to 1.2 V, 18 A maximum output current, 1MHz buck converter. It uses the EPC2014 and EPC2015 eGaN FETs in conjunction with the recently introduced National LM5113 100V half-bridge gate driver from Texas Instruments. The LM5113 is the industry’s first driver designed specifically for enhancement mode gallium nitride FETs. The EPC9101 demonstrates the reduced size and performance capabilities of high switching frequency eGaN FETs when coupled with this dedicated eGaN driver.

EPC has received ISO certification for the design, development, marketing and sales of gallium nitride power transistors and power management devices

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – September 2011 - Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (www.epc-co.com) the leader in energy-efficient enhancement mode gallium nitride (eGaN®) power transistors used in power conversion applications, has received the International Organization for Standardization ISO 9001:2008 certification for its quality management system.