Integrated high-voltage GaN FET and driver solution enables twice the power density and half the power loss

Texas Instruments announced the availability of 600V gallium nitride (GaN) 70mohm field-effect transistor (FET) power-stage engineering samples. They say they are the first and only semiconductor manufacturer to publicly offer a high-voltage driver-integrated GaN solution. The new device’s power stage coupled with their analog and digital power-conversion controllers enables designers to create smaller, more efficient and higher-performing designs compared to silicon FET-based solutions. These benefits are especially important in isolated high-voltage industrial, telecom, enterprise computing and renewable energy applications. “With over 3 million hours of reliability testing, the LMG3410 gives power designers the confidence to realize the potential of GaN and to rethink their power architecture and systems in ways not feasible before,” said Steve Lambouses, TI vice president of high-voltage power solutions. “Expanding on TI’s reputation for manufacturing capability and extensive system-design expertise, the new power stage is a significant step for the GaN market.” With its integrated driver and features such as zero reverse-recovery current, the device provides reliable performance, especially in hard-switching applications where it can dramatically reduce switching losses by as much as 80 percent. Unlike stand-alone GaN FETs, the easy-to-use device integrates built-in intelligence for temperature, current and undervoltage lockout fault protection. To support designers who are taking advantage of GaN technology in their power designs, TI is also introducing new products to expand its GaN ecosystem. The LMG5200POLEVM-10, a 48V to 1V point-of-load (POL) evaluation module, will include the new TPS53632G GaN FET controller, paired with the 80V LMG5200 GaN FET power stage. The solution allows for efficiency as high as 92 percent in industrial, telecom and datacom applications.