New Industry Products

50-Amp High-Voltage Vertical GaN Power Semiconductors

April 12, 2018 by Paul Shepard

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. has claimed state-of-the-art high current operation in a vertical GaN power semiconductor developed using gallium nitride (GaN), a main material in blue LEDs, one of the company’s main products.

Power semiconductors are widely used in power converters such as power sources and adaptors for electronic devices. However, simultaneous achievement of both high breakdown voltage and low loss (low conduction loss and switching loss) at high levels has been difficult with conventional silicon due to its material properties.

In its power semiconductors, Toyoda Gosei uses GaN, which has material properties of high breakdown voltage and low loss, and employs a vertical device structure in which electrical current flows vertically from or to a substrate.

These changes have enabled a GaN power transistor chip with operating current of over 50A, highest ever reported for vertical GaN transistors, and high-frequency (several megahertz) operation.

(click on table to enlarge)

These GaN devices from Toyoda Gosei use a trench MOS structure, in which trenches are formed at fixed intervals in the chip surface of the diode, achieving low leakage current operation at high temperatures.

Toyoda Gosei will continue development of these power semiconductors for improved reliability, aiming to achieve practical applications in cooperation with semiconductor and electronics manufacturers.

The newly developed vertical GaN power transistors (MOSFET) and Schottky barrier diodes will be presented on panel displays at the Techno-Frontier 2018 Advanced Electronic & Mechatronic Devices and Components Exhibition, held at Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan from April 18 to April 20.

The world’s first full vertical-GaN dc-dc converter equipped with these devices (pictured at the top of this article) will also be demonstrated at the company’s booth (6F-11, Hall 6).