17 April 2014

EPC introduces development board for high-current, high-stepdown buck converter applications

Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA, which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) for power management applications, has introduced the EPC9016 half-bridge development board for high-current, high-stepdown-voltage, buck intermediate bus converter (IBC) applications using eGaN FETs. In this application two low-side (synchronous rectifier) FETs are connected in parallel, since they will be conducting for a much longer period compared to the single high-side (control) FET.

EPC says that eGaN FETs have superior current-sharing capability compared with silicon MOSFETs, making them suitable for parallel operation. This development board expands upon EPC’s work on optimal layout based on ultra-low inductance packages. The optimum layout techniques that are used increase efficiency while reducing voltage overshoot and electromagnetic interference (EMI).

The EPC9016 development board is a 40V maximum device voltage, 25A maximum output current, half-bridge featuring the EPC2015 eGaN FET with an onboard LM5113 gate driver. The half-bridge configuration contains a single top-side device and two parallel bottom devices and is recommended for high-stepdown-ratio buck converter applications such as point-of-load converters and buck converters for non-isolated telecom infrastructure.

The development board is 2” x 1.5” and contains all critical components and layout for optimal switching performance. There are also various probe points to facilitate simple waveform measurement and efficiency calculation.

EPC9016 development boards are priced at $130 each and are available from Digi-Key. A Quick Start Guide is included for reference and ease of use.

Tags: EPC E-mode GaN FETs

Visit: www.digikey.com/Suppliers/us/Efficient-Power-Conversion

Visit: http://epc-co.com/epc/Products/DemoBoards/EPC9016.aspx