GaN and the perfect switch

With three years of product in the field, GaN Systems boasted a full booth showcasing the low- and high-voltage end products from several of the company’s partners. Products included demo boards from Analog Devices, Linear Technology, and Peregrine Semiconductor. “Customers want a transistor that is normally off,” says VP Sales and Marketing Larry Soaziani, “We have a normally off device that works just like a MOSFET. Totem Pole PFC is 28 percent more efficient than anything out there and has been out for 20 years or more but we didn’t have the perfect switch. Guess what? Now there is the perfect switch.”

And like many of the supplier at the show, EV was a popular topic. “In order to get 48V to 12V or 48V to 12V you need good high frequency. You’ve got loads all over the car in an EV so you’re going to need small switching regulators all over the car and they want have to be highly efficient and light,” Soaziani concluded.

A GaN-transmitter-based wireless charging station demonstrated the extension of wireless charging power beyond the 5 – 12 W limits of normal wireless chargers, allowing the charging of a laptop or up to five phones. The demo used the 650 V, E-HEMTs family of transistors that enable efficient resonant wireless charging at power levels from 20 W to 2,500 W.

Executive Editor Lee Teschler caught up with GaN Systems for a demo. Check it out: