21 October 2011

EPC launches buck power conversion demonstration board featuring eGaN FETs

Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA, which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) used in power conversion applications, has introduced the EPC9101, a fully functional buck power conversion demonstration circuit. The board is an 8–19V input to 1.2V, 18A maximum output current, 1MHz buck converter.

The board uses the EPC2014 and EPC2015 eGaN FETs in conjunction with the recently introduced National LM5113 100V half-bridge gate driver from Texas Instruments, which is said to be the industry’s first driver designed specifically for e-mode GaN FETs. The EPC9101 demonstrates the reduced size and performance capabilities of high-switching-frequency eGaN FETs when coupled with this dedicated eGaN driver.

The power stage footprint of the EPC9101 circuit is just 8mm x 16mm (about 0.2 square inches) and about 8mm high when taking components from both sides into consideration. Despite its small size, the board has a peak power efficiency of 88% and is capable of delivering 18A of current at 1.2V.

To assist design engineers, the EPC9101 is easy to set up to evaluate the performance of the EPC2014 and EPC2015 eGaN FETs and LM5113 gate driver, claims the firm. The board is intended for bench evaluation with low ambient temperature and convection cooling. Additional heat sinking and forced-air cooling can be used to evaluate beyond the rated current capability of the demonstration circuit.

A similar fully functional buck power conversion demonstration board, the LM5113LLPEVB, is available from Texas Instruments, featuring the LM5113 driver in operation with 100V EPC2001 eGaN FETs. The LM5113LLPEVB demo board is a 15–60V input to10V, 10A, 800kHz, buck converter. Like the EPC9101, this board demonstrates the size and performance enhancement that can be achieved using the EPC2001 eGaN FETs and the LM5113 gate driver.

EPC9101 demo boards are priced at $150 each and are available from Digi-Key Corp. A ‘Quick Start Guide’ is included with the EPC9101 demo board for reference and ease of use.

Tags: EPC E-mode GaN FETs

Visit: http://epc-co.com/epc/documents/guides/EPC9101_qsg.pdf