Texas Instruments (TI), a global semiconductor design & manufacturing firm, has reportedly strengthened its high-voltage power management portfolio with the launch of the next generation of 650-V and 600-V GaN (Gallium Nitride) FETs(Field-effect Transistors) for industrial as well as automotive applications.

Sources cite that the new families of GaN FETs have been developed to help engineers to offer twice the power density, achieve 99 percent of efficiency, and decrease the size of power magnetics by around 59 percent compared to present solutions. The new family of GaN FETs comes with an integrated 2.2-MHz gate driver.

The company has developed these novel FETs using its own GaN materials and processing capabilities on a GaN-on-silicon substrate. This provides a supply chain and cost advantage over comparable materials like SiC (Silicon Carbide).

The advent of electric vehicles is significantly transforming the automobile industry and customers are demanding automobiles that can charge quicker and drive farther. This has prompted engineers to design lightweight, compact automotive systems without hampering vehicle performance.

Using the company’s new automotive GaN FETs can help manufactures to decrease the size of electric vehicle onboard chargers and DC/DC converters by up to 50 percent compared to present Si or SiC solutions. This has enabled engineers to achieve extended battery range, improved system reliability, and less design cost.

In industrial applications, the novel devices enable better efficiency and power density in AC/DC power delivery applications, in which low losses and decreased board space are import- like hyperscale and enterprise computing, and 5G telecom rectifiers.   

Speaking on which, Steve Lambouses who is the vice president for High Voltage Power at Texas Instruments said that automotive and industrial applications increasingly demand more powerless reduced space, and designers must offer proven power management systems that operate efficiently over the long lifetime of the end equipment.

Mr. Lambouses added that backed by over 40 million device reliability hours and over five GWh of power conversion application testing, the company’s GaN technology offers the lifetime reliability engineers need in any market.

Source credit - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ti-introduces-industrys-first-automotive-060100556.html