Power semiconductor device maker International Rectifier Corp (IR) of El Segundo, CA, USA has qualified and shipped product built on its gallium nitride (GaN)-based power device technology platform for a home theater system manufactured by a 'leading consumer electronics company'.
"Commencing commercial shipments based on our leading-edge GaN-based technology platform and IP portfolio extends IR's leadership in power semiconductor devices," claims president & CEO Oleg Khaykin. "We fully anticipate the potential impact of GaN-based technology on the power conversion market to be at least as large as the introduction of the power HEXFET by IR over 30 years ago," he adds.?
International Rectifier says that the achievement underlines its strategic advantage in the power management market, providing a capital-efficient manufacturing model that enables improvements in key application-specific figures of merit (FOM) of up to a factor of ten compared to state-of-the-art silicon-based technology.
"GaN has the potential to be infused into every business unit and product line within IR over the long-term," says Khaykin. "We see it as one of the major drivers for our long-term revenue growth, and market share expansion," he concludes.
The GaN-based power device technology platform is the result of ten years of R&D by IR based on the firm's proprietary GaN-on-silicon epitaxial technology. The high-throughput 150mm GaN-on-Si epitaxy, together with subsequent device fabrication processes that are fully compatible with IR's existing cost-effective silicon manufacturing facilities, offers a commercially viable manufacturing platform for GaN-based power devices, the firm reckons.
