22 May 2015

IDT teams with EPC to integrate GaN and silicon

Integrated Device Technology Inc (IDT) of San Jose, CA, USA is collaborating with 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, to explore integrating EPC's eGaN technology with IDT's mixed-signal system-level solutions.

"GaN offers exciting opportunities to develop higher-performance, differentiated products," says Sailesh Chittipeddi, vice president, Global Operations & chief technology officer at IDT. "EPC's leadership in GaN-based power management technology made them the obvious choice to team with, and I look forward to exploring how GaN-based products — with all their inherent benefits — may be brought to market in the not-so-distant future," he adds. 

The three areas in which the firms are collaborating are as follows:

• Communications and computing infrastructure — GaN's low capacitance and zero QRR coupled with the low inductance of its chip-scale package result in high efficiency at high frequency. It is intended that this increase in efficiency will combine with IDT's commutation and system expertise to drive up power density and deliver advantages to communications and computing infrastructures.

• Wireless power – The highly resonant wireless power transfer standard of the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) consortium protocol operates at 6.78MHz, where the high-speed, low-loss switching ability of GaN drives efficiency to the levels of wired solutions. Combining EPC's GaN expertise and IDT's precision solutions is aimed at delivering a highly efficient, cost-competitive solution that drives widespread adoption of wireless power.

• Radio frequency (RF) – The two firms will explore collaborating on creating a portfolio of RF products for the communications infrastructure market.

"A growing number of innovative companies, such as IDT, are integrating proven GaN technology into their solutions as a way to move beyond the limitations of silicon," comments EPC's CEO & co-founder Alex Lidow. "Our team looks forward to working alongside IDT engineers to bring the exceptional speed and efficiency of EPC's GaN technology to IDT customers."

Tags: EPC E-mode GaN FETs GaN-on-Si

Visit: www.epc-co.com

Visit: www.IDT.com