Wide-Bandgap Semis

December 2020
How GaN Transistors Can be Paralleled

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Figure 1a: E-mode GaN HEMT equivalent circuit

Wide-bandgap (WBG) technology is increasingly becoming an alternative to traditional silicon MOSFETs in power converters. In market segments where the remaining percentage point or two of efficiency can really make a difference or an increase in power density can provide an advantage, a move to gallium nitride (G
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Date:
12/03/2020
Using Early EMI Testing to Validate SiC-based Designs

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Figure 1. Probing a power design with a real-time oscilloscope can help identify the sources and transmission paths of unwanted emissions

In applications like automotive, green energy, and data centers, the primary growth drivers for SiC are potential gains in performance, efficiency and power density. However, the gains in performance and size must still run the gauntlet of faster switching speeds, large currents, and issues related to new packaging re
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Date:
12/03/2020
GaN Reliability Testing Beyond AEC for Automotive Lidar

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Figure 1: Illustration of how direct time-of-flight (DToF) and indirect time-of-flight (IToF) work

An automotive application using GaN power devices in high volume is lidar (light detection and ranging) for autonomous vehicles. Lidar technology provides information about a vehicle’s surroundings, thus requiring high accuracy and reliability to ensure safety and performance.  This article will discuss a
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Date:
12/03/2020
Goodbye to 2020
I don’t think many of us will be sad to see the back of the year, and hopefully 2021 is a much better year for everyone. It looks like several effective vaccines for COVID-19 will be available fairly soon and life can at least return to some kind of normality. 2021 certainly has some potential. Wide band
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Date:
12/03/2020
How SiC and GaN Enable Higher Power Conversion Efficiency

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Figure 1: Main differences between Si, SiC and GaN materials

Energy usage and its conversion from source to final application has been a subject of development ever since horsepower meant exactly that, and the design of a plough was critical to how many days it would take to prepare a field for planting. Today we think more about electrical energy and power conversion fr
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Date:
12/02/2020