Bodo's Wide Bandgap Event - Munich

Compared to older semiconductor technologies, GaN transistors begin to approach the “ideal switch” that we learned about early in our EE courses at university – an enviably low specific RDSON and extremely low gate and source-drain capacitance. The technology requires no rare materials and its processing energy budget is far lower than that of SiC, its closest WGB competitor. This being the case, it’s reasonable to state that if an application can be fulfilled using a GaN switch, then the engineer should choose GaN for the application.

So, the question is “when will GaN reach the voltage and current carrying capacity of SiC?” “Now” is the answer when discussing the universal mains voltage level, and this has been the case for some time. With Power Integrations release of a 900V GaN platform in the first quarter of 2023 and a new 1250V device in late October 2023, should SiC be worried in regards to higher voltage applications too? This presentation explains the pros and cons of GaN at voltage levels above that needed for residential mains powered equipment and provides some experimental data that attendees should find both informative and intriguing.