Monolithic GaN Half Bridge Enables 90% Efficient 12V-to-1.2V 25A POL

Efficient Power Conversion Corp. (EPC) announced the EPC2100, the first commercially available enhancement-mode monolithic GaN transistor half bridge during the morning plenary session at Darnell's Energy Summit. By integrating two eGaN power FETs into a single device, interconnect inductances and the interstitial space needed on the PCB are eliminated. This increases both efficiency (especially at higher frequencies) and power density, while reducing assembly costs to the end user's power conversion system. The EPC2100 GaN power transistor offers power systems designers a solution that increases efficiency and power density for point-of-load (POL) systems approaching 93% at 10A, and over 90.5% at 25A when switching at 500 kHz and converting from 12 V to 1.2 V.

Each device within the EPC2100 half-bridge component has a voltage rating of 30 V. The upper FET has a typical RDS(on) of 6 mΩ, and the lower FET has a typical RDS(on) of 1.5 mΩ. The high-side FET is approximately one-fourth the size of the low-side device to optimize efficient dc-dc conversion in buck converters with a high Vin/Vout ratio. The EPC2100 comes in a chip-scale package for improved switching speed and thermal performance, and is only 6 mm x 2.3 mm for increased power density.

“Now designers have the first example of what’s to come with eGaN technology – a family of monolithic eGaN half-bridge devices that save space, improve efficiency, and lower system costs. As power conversion systems stretch into the multi-megahertz domain, the integration of discrete devices becomes increasingly important for high system efficiency and power density,” said Alex Lidow, EPC’s co-founder and CEO.

The EPC9036 development board is 2” x 2” and contains one EPC2100 integrated half-bridge component using the Texas Instruments LM5113 gate driver, supply and bypass capacitors. The board has been laid out for optimal switching performance and there are various probe points to facilitate simple waveform measurement and efficiency calculation. The EPC2100 monolithic half-bridge price for 1K units is $5.81 each. The EPC9036 development boards are priced at $137.75 each.