Fujitsu Semiconductor group’s CMOS-compatible, 150-mm wafer fab in Japan has started mass production of Gallium Nitride (GaN) power devices for switching applications. The facility is providing GaN foundry services for Transphorm, which has established the only qualified 600-V GaN device platform. The first photovoltaic power conditioner products using the GaN module from Transphorm also launched in January 2015. Other applications include ultra-small ac adapters, high-density power supplies for PCs, servers and telecom equipment, and highly efficient motion control systems.
Transphorm’s Jedec-qualified process has been combined with Fujitsu Semiconductor’s technology with improvements for high-volume, silicon-compatible device manufacturing.
Transphorm also recently secured fundamental patents in the areas of GaN power conversion and inductive load power switching circuits, and in bridge circuits. Both patents are directed toward the operation and use of GaN transistors in applications that include half bridges. Counterparts of these patents have also been issued in China and Taiwan and are pending in several other countries. The patents belong to a bridge circuit patent family based on Transphorm Diode-Free GaN, wherein a GaN transistor also serves the function of the conventional anti-parallel, or fly-back diode, used in traditional approaches. This not only helps eliminate diode components, but also eliminates the cost, space and energy loss associated with them—resulting in compact, higher efficiency systems.
Filed Under: Power Electronic Tips