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Rensselaer Institute Claims First GaN Chip May Replace Silicon MOSFETs

May 18, 2008 by Jeff Shepard

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute announced that a new transistor developed by Weixiao Huang has captured the attention of some of the biggest American and Japanese automobile companies. It is claimed that the invention could replace the silicon transistor for high-power and high-temperature electronics.

Huang has invented a new transistor that uses a compound material known as gallium nitride (GaN), which has remarkable material properties. The new GaN transistor could reduce the power consumption and improve the efficiency of power electronics systems in everything from motor drives and hybrid vehicles to house appliances and defense equipment.

"Silicon has been the workhorse in the semiconductor industry for last two decades," Huang said. "But as power electronics get more sophisticated and require higher performing transistors, engineers have been seeking an alternative like gallium nitride-based transistors that can perform better than silicon and in extreme conditions."

Each household likely contains dozens of silicon-based electronics. An important component of each of those electronics is usually a silicon-based transistor know as a silicon metal/oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (silicon MOSFET). To convert the electric energy to other forms as required, the transistor acts as a switch, allowing or disallowing the flow of current through the device.

Huang first developed a new process that demonstrates a GaN MOS (metal/oxide/GaN) interface. Engineers have known that GaN and other gallium-based materials have some extremely good electrical properties, much better than silicon. However, no useful GaN MOS transistor has been developed. Huang’s innovation, said to be the first GaN MOSFET of its kind in the world, has already shown world-record performance according to Huang. In addition, Huang has shown that his innovation can integrate several important electronic functions onto one chip like never before. "This will significantly simplify entire electronic systems," Huang said. Huang has also designed and experimentally demonstrated several new novel high-voltage MOS-gated FETs which it is claimed have shown superior performance compared to silicon MOSFET in terms of lower power consumption, smaller chip size, and higher power density.

The new GaN transistors can also allow the electronics system to operate in extremely hot, harsh, and high-power environments and even those that produce radiation. "Because it is so resilient, the device could open up the field of electronic engineering in ways that were not previously possible due to the limitations imposed by less tolerant silicon transistors," Huang said.