Where are the High-Voltage GaN Products?

Jun 1, 2010 12:00 PM
BY ARNOLD N. ALDERMAN President, Anagenesis, Inc., El Segundo, CA

HV SEMICONDUCTORS

If we look at the high-voltage compound semiconductor power switching devices, we see a struggling landscape. SiC devices have tried for a decade to get traction with a high-voltage Schottky diode. It performed well, but cost has remained high and it lacked the partner transistor. The high-voltage SiC transistor is finally making its debut - but at what price? It may get some traction in boutique markets, but may still be plagued with yield problems - which will further affect cost.

There is one high-voltage GaN supplier with a diode product purported to be available this year. History has shown that the various previous attempts to introduce a solo diode product are far from stellar ventures - in any technology! For that reason, even if they produce an excellent diode, they may not get enough successful traction in the market unless they also develop the transistor.

As one expert advised me, even though GaN is a high-voltage material, developing GaN product with ratings of 600, 1200, and 1700 V is not a trivial matter. Another shared that GaN is not an easy material to master for high-voltage devices. Although GaN does not require a “perfect material”, there are other challenges for designers. Technology papers presented over the past few years cite some of those challenges. Further, if it were easy, power conversion designers would already have devices and would be designing them into their circuits. He concluded by remarking that potentially, designing high voltage GaN into power conversion systems could be a simple process making rapid market adoption a likely scenario.

So from whence will they come? There certainly are a number of players working diligently on GaN technology. Besides the low voltage players, International Rectifier and Efficient Power Conversion, they include Fujitsu, Furukawa Electric, HRL Laboratories, IMEC, Panasonic, Sanken Electric, Toshiba, and Velox Semiconductor. A recent Google Scholar search indicates both Cornell and University of California at Santa Barbara are very active. Most others cite them both as leading the way to significant breakthroughs.

GaN conversation certainly dominated the Power Conversion and Intelligent Motion (PCIM) Conference in Nuremburg, Germany this year. In the race to be first, potential suppliers are announcing that they will have product “soon”. Some promise product by Q3 this year while others are sampling a few prototypes with product promised for 2011. My concern is that while promising product qualification, they are still discussing fundamental changes, such as maybe the product should be vertical rather than lateral. If we are going to get to qualified high voltage GaN product soon, then suppliers should put these issues to bed and provide product! I believe the successful winner in this race will be an entirely new player arriving on the scene with qualified products.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The bottom line is that GaN high voltage devices offer promise of a quantum increase in efficiency and power density. Compared to other materials, the GaN time-to-market will be much faster. Development with be less because a large fraction of funds will not have to be spent on fabricating “perfect” GaN material. This will enable companies will ramp up to product development and produce working devices sooner.

Unlike its low-voltage counterpart, high-voltage GaN performance is far removed from the market pressures that competitive silicon or silicon superjuction devices face. Thus, the likelihood of success is significantly greater - as long as the supplier has dedicated focus on the power conversion market. High-voltage GaN offers the remarkable opportunity to positively impact the complete ecosystem (economic, performance, and design structures) of possibly every high voltage power electronic product. Relative to other compound semiconductors, GaN-on-silicon high-voltage devices are the best and cheapest next step in power conversion, and therefore offers the most hope.

Related Articles

GaN Transistors Reach the 600V Operation Plateau DISCUSSIONS ABOUT GaN (gallium nitride) transistors and diodes have focused upon the potential of the new material to provide better devices in the future.... Commercial 600V GaN-Based Power Devices Coming of Age Availability of cost-effective, high-quality, robust, high-performance GaN-based power devices will enable truly innovative improvements in power electronic density, efficiencies and costs in the coming years.... Enhancement Mode Gallium Nitride MOSFET Delivers Impressive Performance IF YOU ASK DR. ALEX LIDOW about the future of silicon MOSFETs, this 30-year veteran of the electronics industry will tell you that he sees the technology... GaN Boosts MOSFET Figure of Merit Tim McDonald, International Rectifier's vice president of Emerging Technologies, notes that silicon-based HEXFETs, Trench MOSFETs, and Super Junction...

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2007 Penton Media, Inc.