Commercialization of high 600V GaN-on-silicon power HEMTs and diodes

Abstract

With power conversion losses endemic in all areas of electricity consumption, broadly categorized into motion control (accounting for around 50% of total electrical energy use), lighting, air conditioning, and information technology, consumers, governments and utilities are finding ways to achieve higher efficiency. Manufacturers of data servers, telecom systems, solar power inverters and drives for motor control are focused on reducing power conversion losses while simultaneously shrinking the size of power systems. Although silicon has historically been the base device material used by the power conversion industry, it is rapidly reaching its physical performance limits. GaN semiconductors solutions reduce power conversion loss by over 50% in a significantly smaller form factor and at a lower cost, when device design, fabrication technology and application design are holistically combined to deliver superior end products.