Eyeing a broader applications range, Navitas Semiconductor has released its fourth generation (4G) gallium nitride (GaN) technology for demanding, high-power applications in datacenters, solar /energy storage and electric vehicle (EV) markets, where efficiency, power density and robust and reliable operations are critical. It was unveiled at a special customer, partner and press event in Taiwan on 6 September 2023.
At this worldwide launch event held at the Marriot Taipei, Navitas’ David Carroll, senior vice president worldwide sales, and Charles Bailley, senior director business development, introduced the new GaNSafe platform to an invited audience comprising customers, industry partners, and international media. According to the presentation, the new 4G GaN power ICs will be manufactured in Hsinchu by long-term Navitas partner TSMC.
The new GaNSafe platform has been engineered with additional, application-specific protection features, functions and new, high-power packaging (Figure 1) to deliver enabling performance under severe high-temperature, long-duration conditions, said the maker. The previous generation GaNFast power ICs integrate GaN power switch and drive with control, sensing, and protection to enable faster charging, higher power density, and greater energy savings. Plus, it offers an industry-first 20-year warranty.
The manufacturer said that the initial offering will include high-power 650/800 V GaNSafe power ICs covering a range of RDS(on) from 35 to 98 mΩ in a novel, robust, and cool-running surface-mount TO-leadless (TOLL) package (Figure 2) to address applications from 1,000 to 22,000 W.
FIG 2 GaNSafe power IC is offered in a 4-pin robust surface-mount TOLL package that has achieved the tough IPC-9701 mechanical reliability standard,
GaNSafe integrated features and functions include:
- Protected, regulated, integrated gate-drive control, with zero gate-source loop inductance for reliable high-speed 2 MHz switching capability to maximize application power density.
- High-speed short-circuit protection, with autonomous ‘detect and protect’ within 50 ns – 4x faster than competing discrete solutions.
- Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection of 2 kV, compared to zero for discrete GaN transistors.
- 650 V continuous, and 800 V transient voltage capability to aid survival during extraordinary application conditions.
- Easy-to-use, complete, high-power, high-reliability, high-performance power IC with only 4 pins, to accelerate customer designs.
- Programmable turn-on and turn-off speeds (dV/dt) to simplify EMI regulatory requirements.
- Unlike discrete GaN transistor designs, with voltage spikes, undershoot and specification breaches, GaNSafe delivers an efficient, predictable, reliable system.
- GaNSafe’s robust 4-pin TOLL package has achieved the tough IPC-9701 mechanical reliability standard, and delivers simple, strong, dependable performance as compared to multi-chip modules which require 3x as many connections, and have poor cooling capability.
To accelerate customers’ time-to-market and maximize chance of first-time-right designs, the company has created market-specific system design centers that offer complete platform designs with benchmark efficiency, density and system cost using GaNSafe products. These system platforms include complete design collateral with fully-tested hardware, embedded software, schematics, bill-of-materials, layout, simulation and hardware test results.
Examples of system platforms enabled by GaNSafe technology include CRPS185 datacenter power platform that delivers a full 3,200 W of power in only 1U (40 mm) x 73.5mm x 185 mm (544 cc), achieving 5.9 W/cc, or almost 100 W/in3 power density. As per the presentation, this is a 40% size reduction versus the equivalent legacy silicon approach and reaches over 96.5% efficiency at 30% load, and over 96% stretching from 20% to 60% load, creating a ‘Titanium Plus benchmark.
In addition, Navitas demonstrated a 6.6 kW 3-in-1 bidirectional EV on-board charger (OBC) with 3 kW dc-dc. This 96%+ efficient unit offers over 50% higher power density, and with efficiency over 95%, delivers up to 16% energy savings as compared to competing solutions.
“Our original GaNFast and GaNSense technologies have set the industry standard for mobile charging, establishing the first market with high-volume, mainstream GaN adoption to displace silicon,” said Gene Sheridan, CEO and co-founder. “GaNSafe takes our technology to the next level, as the most protected, reliable and safe GaN devices in the industry, and now also targeting 1-22 kW power systems in AI-based data centers, EV, solar and energy storage systems. Customers can now achieve the full potential of GaN in these multi-billion dollar markets demanding the highest efficiency, density and reliability.”
According to the developer, the GaNSafe portfolio is available immediately to qualified customers with mass production expected to begin in Q4 2023. Also, approximately 40 customer projects are already in progress with GaNSafe in datacenter, solar, energy storage and EV applications.