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 introduced the 60V EPC2102 and the 80V EPC2103 enhancement-mode monolithic GaN transistor half-bridges.
By integrating two eGaN power FETs into a single device, interconnect inductances and the interstitial space needed on the PCB are eliminated, resulting in a 50% reduction in board area occupied by the transistors. This increases both efficiency (especially at higher frequencies) and power density, while reducing assembly costs to the end-user’s power conversion system. The half-bridges are suitable for high-frequency DC-DC conversion.
Using an EPC2103 in a typical buck converter, system efficiency is greater than 97% at 20A, when switching at 500kHz and converting from 48V to 12V. Also added to the portfolio is the EPC2102 60V half-bridge, which achieves 98% system efficiency at 18A, when switching at 500kHz and converting from 42V to 14V. Both products come in a chip-scale package for improved switching speed and thermal performance and are only 6.05mm x 2.3mm for increased power density.
The EPC9038 and EPC9039 development boards are 2” x 2” (50.8mm x 50.8mm) and each contains one EPC2102 or EPC2103 integrated half-bridge component, respectively. Both boards use the Texas Instruments LM5113 gate driver and have onboard supply and bypass capacitors. The boards have been laid out for optimal switching performance and include various probe points to facilitate simple waveform measurement and efficiency calculation.
The EPC2102 and EPC2103 monolithic half-bridges are $6.85 and $7.58 each, respectively, in 1000-unit quantities. The EPC9038 and EPC9039 development boards are $137.75 each. All are available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key.
