Power Converters: Why commercial world is betting on Gallium Nitride (GaN) to replace Silicon

by Dr Satish Dhawan (Yale University)

Tuesday 14 Sept 2010, 09:00 → 10:00 Europe/Zurich

13/2-005 (CERN)

Gallium Nitride (GaN) is a high band gap material; the HEMPT (high electron mobility transistor) has been used since 2004 for Cellular base station power amplifiers. Now with the development of GaN epitaxial growth on silicon using existing foundries, low cost power devices become possible. It has many advantages for power applications due to low Rds (drain to source resistance) high voltage operation due to high dielectric strength. This can result in thinner devices with high thermal conductivity. Some of the commercial applications being targeted are data center 400 DC distributions, Electric automobiles, air conditioner motors, AC line plug _in power supplies etc. We have found the depletion mode devices to be radiation hard. In the past few months enhancement power devices have become available and in our tests for DC -DC converters, these have 90% efficiency at high voltage ratios than is possible with silicon converters. Our experience with this material and the current status of the commercial activity shall be covered. Yale web site for further reading http://shaktipower.sites.yale.edu/

Slides GaN.pdf