High-Speed Gate Driver for GaN Power Transistors
Panasonic Corporation today announced that it will start mass production of a high-speed gate driver (AN34092B) optimized for driving its 600V GaN power transistors (X-GaN) in November 2016. The company will also start mass production of two types of X-GaN (the 70 mΩ PGA26E07BA and 190 mΩ PGA26E19BA) and provide solutions in combination with high-speed gate drivers.
X-GaN and dedicated high-speed gate drivers are suitable for various applications such as 100W to 5kW power supply units, inverters, data centers, mobile base stations, consumer electronics, audio-visual equipment, industrial and medical devices.
AN34092B Features: Driving transistors at high frequencies of up to 4MHz that provide space savings; Achieving a high slew rate that contributes to energy savings; Integrating the active miller clamp function that prevents malfunction during high-speed switching
GaN is one of the next generation semiconductor compounds that can achieve space and energy savings when applied to transistors used in various power units. A gate driver is required to drive a transistor; however, general gate drivers for conventional silicon (Si) transistors cannot exploit the potential of GaN transistors since the gate structure of GaN transistors is different from that of Si transistors.
The new high-speed gate driver (AN34092B) helps Panasonic’s X-GaN easily and safely achieves high-speed switching performance. It can drive transistors at high frequencies of up to 4MHz and integrates the active miller clamp function that prevents malfunction during high-speed switching. X-GaN achieves a 600 V breakdown enhancement mode through a unique technology and features high-speed switching and low on-resistance. The combination of X-GaN and dedicated high-speed gate drivers will contribute to significant space and energy savings of various power conversion units for industrial and consumer use.
X-GaN and dedicated high-speed gate drivers will be exhibited at electronica 2016 in Munich, Germany from November 8 to 11 this week.
