Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA has made available the EPC9004 development board, featuring the firm’s enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) field-effect transistors (FETs) for power management applications. The board aims to demonstrate how recently introduced IC gate drivers, optimized for GaN FETs, make transitioning from silicon power transistors to higher-performance eGaN FETs simple and cost effective.
The EPC9004 development board is a 200V peak voltage, 2A maximum output current, half-bridge featuring the EPC2012 eGaN FET. The EPC2012 is used in combination with the UCC27611 high-speed gate driver from Texas Instruments, reducing time and complexity for designing high-frequency, high-performance power systems.
The EPC9004 simplifies the evaluation process of eGaN FETs by including all the critical components, including a dedicated gate driver, on a single 2” x 1.5” board that can be connected into any existing converter. In addition, there are various probe points on the board to facilitate simple waveform measurement and efficiency calculation. A Quick Start Guide is included for reference and ease of use.
EPC says that the 200V EPC2012 eGaN FET is suited to applications such as wireless charging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and low RF frequency applications such as smart-meter communications.
The EPC9004 development board is priced at $95, and is available from Digi-Key.
