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 made available the EPC9066, EPC9067 and EPC9068 development boards (featuring 40V-rated EPC8004, 65V-rated EPC8009 and 100V-rated EPC8010 eGaN FETs, respectively), which can be configured as either a buck converter or as a ZVS class-D amplifier.
The firm says that the boards provide an easy-to-use way for power systems designers to evaluate the performance of GaN transistors, enabling designers to get their products into volume production quickly. All three boards feature a zero reverse recovery (QRR) synchronous bootstrap rectifier augmented gate driver to increase efficiency at high-frequency operation, up to 15MHz. The boards can produce a maximum output of 2.7A in the buck and ZVS class-D amplifier configurations. Loss reduction is realized across the entire current range.
The boards are 2" x 1.5" and are laid out in a half-bridge configuration. Each board uses the Texas Instruments LM5113 gate driver with supply and bypass capacitors. The gate driver has been configured with a synchronous FET bootstrap circuit featuring the 100V, 2800mΩ EPC2038 eGaN FET, which eliminates the driver losses induced by the reverse recovery of the internal bootstrap diode. The boards have various probe points and Kelvin measurement points for DC input and output. In addition, they provide the capability to install a heat-sink for high-power operation.
The EPC9066/9067/9068 development board are priced at $158.13 each and are available now from distributor Digi-Key. Quick Start Guides, containing set-up procedures, circuit diagram, bill of material, and Gerber files for the boards are provided on-line.