News: Microelectronics
15 March 2021
Navitas’ GaNFast power IC used in Xiaomi’s 55W fast charger
Navitas Semiconductor Inc of El Segundo, CA, USA says that its gallium nitride (GaN) power ICs are being used in the Xiaomi 55W fast charger (model MDY-12-EQ), supplied ‘in-box’ with every Mi 11 smartphone.
The Mi 11 is the first smartphone with the Qualcom Snapdragon 888 5G processor, has a Gorilla Glass 6.81” AMOLED screen with 1440p resolution, plus a large 4600mAhr battery. Using the GaNFast 55W, the Mi 11 charges from 0-100% in only 45 minutes (half the time of competitor flagships, it is claimed) and is also highly compact (at half the size of typical silicon-based chargers).
Navitas says that GaN runs up to 20x faster than silicon, and enables up to 3x more power or 3x faster charging in half the size and weight. GaNFast power ICs integrate GaN power and drive plus protection and control to deliver simple, small, fast and now higher-power performance. The Xiaomi 55W fast charger uses an NV6115 GaNFast power IC in a high-frequency quasi-resonant (HQFR) flyback converter with the On Semiconductor NCP1342 controller at 200kHz to enable a slimline, planar transformer with shrunk core, plus smaller EMI filter and output capacitors.
“One of the best things about the 55W GaN charger is that it's capable of charging more of your gear, including laptops, gaming consoles and smartphones,” notes Shou Zi Chew, partner, senior VP & president of International, Xiaomi Corp.
“Following the Mi 10 accessory GaNFast charger in February 2020 and the excitement over our ‘Little Star’ GaN twins at the Xiaomi Technology & Investment Day in October, we are now very excited to go global with Xiaomi with the Mi 11 55W ‘in-box’ GaNFast charger, now with the European 2-pin AC option,” says Navitas’ CEO & co-founder Gene Sheridan. “This is a major commitment to mainstream adoption of gallium nitride technology.”
