News: Microelectronics
25 June 2020
Navitas presenting at ‘virtual’ PCIM Europe
At a ‘virtual’ PCIM (Power Conversion and Intelligent Motion) Europe 2020 (July 7-8), Navitas Semiconductor Inc of El Segundo, CA, USA is showing its how GaNFast power IC technology has penetrated the fast charger and power conversion markets, taking share from legacy silicon chips.
Forty years ago, the power electronics industry experienced a disruptive change with the introduction of silicon MOSFET technology. In the following decade, the power supply industry experienced a 5x increase in power density, a 5x improvement in energy savings and a 3x reduction in costs. The next 30 years saw heavy investment but this yielded smaller and smaller improvements.
Founded in 2014, Navitas introduced what it claimed to be the first commercial gallium nitride (GaN) power ICs. The firm says that its proprietary ‘AllGaN’ process design kit (PDK) monolithically integrates GaN power field-effect transistors (FETs) with GaN analog and logic circuits, enabling faster charging, higher power density and greater energy savings for mobile, consumer, enterprise, eMobility and new energy markets.
Now, GaN power ICs with monolithic integration of GaN FET, GaN digital and GaN analog circuits have driven a new generation of high-frequency, high-efficiency and very high-density power converters. Lenovo, Xiaomi and Asus/NVIDIA are amongst the tier-1 OEMs that have adopted GaNFast technology.
“2020 is the game-changer year for power electronics, with high-speed GaN taking market share from old, slow silicon chips – and demand is high for more GaN knowledge,” says Stephen Oliver, VP corporate marketing & investor relations. “This year’s virtual conference format prompted us to reconsider how we can help more customers discover and utilize GaNFast power ICs – and do it in a safe, yet extremely productive way. The in-depth video presentations can be viewed by designers at their convenient time, place and pace.”
GaNFast power ICs are said to enable next-generational upgrades across diverse markets from 25-100W consumer and mobile USB-C fast chargers and adapters for smartphones and laptops, to 200-800W TV and all-in-one computers and on up to multi-kW electric vehicles (EV), industrial and data-center power supplies.
At PCIM 2020, Oliver is giving the following presentations:
- 7 July (12 noon) - ‘GaNFast Power ICs: Past–Present-Future’;
- 8 July (12.45pm) - ‘GaNFast Power ICs: The Game-Changer’.
