Israel-based Gallium Nitride (GaN) power semiconductor maker VisIC Technologies claims to have developed the lowest resistance blocking voltage transistor of the world. The 650V, 50A component has an Rds(on) (resistance between drain and source when gate is on) of 12 mohm.
The fast GaN transistor used in power conversion switches, the building block for almost all energy conversion subsystems, will be deployed in a large share of the more than $12 billion power transistor market.
Companies engaged in the energy conversion subsystems such as power supply, photovoltaic inverters and electrical motor drives are looking at reducing wanton losses in electrical energy conversion.
VisIC’s new transistor, which should reduce such losses, is expected to find takers among developers of industrial, commercial and residential applications such as robotics, elevators, and air conditioners.
“The GaN transistor can lead to a step function reduction in losses due to multiple inventions of VisIC,” a statement says.
The new design for GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) helps accelerate the semiconductor industry’s push to extend GaN-based technology from communications subsystems into power conversion subsystems, according to the statement.
Power conversion research over the last decade has been looking to achieve power switching effectively with GaN.
“The newly developed transistor could solve the problems that have limited devices from simultaneously achieving step function reduction in conduction and switching losses for high speed switching,” the statement adds.
Ajith Kumar S