New Industry Products

eGaN ICs Combining Gate Drivers with High Frequency GaN FETs

March 09, 2018 by Paul Shepard

Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC) has announced the EPC2112 and EPC2115 enhancement-mode monolithic GaN power transistor with integrated driver products. The EPC2112 is a 200V, 40-mΩ eGaN® FET plus integrated gate driver. In comparison, the EPC2115 is an integrated circuit with dual 150V, 70-mΩ eGaN FETs plus gate drivers.

Both products are capable of operating up to 7MHz and are available in low inductance, extremely small, 2.9mm x 1.1mm BGA surface-mount passivated die.

These monolithic ICs enable designers to improve efficiency, save space, and lower costs compared to silicon-based solutions. The ultra-low capacitance and zero reverse recovery of eGaN FETs enable efficient operation in many topologies.

In both products, the integrated driver is specifically matched to the eGaN device to yield optimal performance under various operating conditions. Performance is further enhanced due to the small, low inductance footprint.

Monolithic integration eliminates interconnect inductances for higher efficiency at high frequency.  This is especially important for high frequency applications such as resonant wireless power, and high-frequency dc-dc conversion.

As design examples for these new ICs, two differential class-E amplifier development boards are available for order.  The EPC9089 is an AirFuel™ Alliance compatible class 4 (33W) and uses the EPC2112. Whereas, the EPC9088 is a class 3 (16W) amplifier using the EPC2115. The EPC2112 is also featured in a new demonstration board, the EPC9131, for a 300 kHz SEPIC converter low voltage dc-dc application.

Price and Availability

The EPC2112 monolithic integrated gate driver and GaN FET price for 1K units is $3.29 each and the EPC2115 integrated gate driver with dual GaN FETs price for 1K units is $3.44 each.

The EPC9088 and EPC9089 development boards are price at $158.13 and $159.13, respectively.

The EPC9131 is priced at $215.62

All of these products are available for order from Digi-Key