News: Microelectronics
7 September 2023
Navitas launches GaNSafe power platform
At a worldwide launch event at the Marriot Taipei in Taiwan, gallium nitride (GaN) power IC and silicon carbide (SiC) technology firm Navitas Semiconductor of Torrance, CA, USA unveiled GaNSafe, a new, high-performance wide-bandgap power platform. Navitas has optimized its fourth-generation GaN technology for demanding, high-power applications in data centers, solar/energy storage and electric vehicle (EV) markets, where efficiency, power density, and robust and reliable operation are critical.
At the launch event, senior VP worldwide sales David Carroll and senior director business development Charles Bailley introduced the new GaNSafe platform to an invited audience of over 50 customer attendees, plus industry partners and international media.
The new fourth-generation GaN power ICs are manufactured in Hsinchu by long-term Navitas foundry partner TSMC. At the GaNSafe launch, Dr RY Su, manager of GaN Power Technology at TSMC, gave a special presentation on the future of GaN.
Navitas’ GaNFast power ICs integrate gallium nitride power and drive, with control, sensing and protection to enable faster charging, higher power density and greater energy savings, with over 100,000,000 units shipped, and an industry-first 20-year warranty. Now, the new GaNSafe platform has been engineered with additional, application-specific protection features, functions and new, high-power packaging to deliver enabling performance under high-temperature, long-duration conditions.
The initial, high-power 650/800V GaNSafe portfolio spans a range of RDS(ON) from 35mΩ to 98mΩ in a novel, robust and cool-running surface-mount TOLL package, to address applications from 1000W to 22,000W. GaNSafe integrated features and functions include:
- Protected, regulated, integrated gate-drive control, with zero gate–source loop inductance for reliable high-speed 2MHz switching capability to maximize application power density.
- High-speed short-circuit protection, with autonomous ‘detect and protect’ within 50ns – four times faster than competing discrete solutions, it is reckoned.
- Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection of 2kV, compared with zero for discrete GaN transistors.
- 650V continuous and 800V transient voltage capability to aid survival during extraordinary application conditions.
- Easy-to-use, complete, high-power, high-reliability, high-performance power IC with only four pins, to accelerate customer designs.
- Programmable turn-on and turn-off speeds (dV/dt) to simplify EMI regulatory requirements.
Unlike discrete GaN transistor designs, with voltage spikes, undershoot and specification breaches, GaNSafe is said to deliver an efficient, predictable, reliable system. Its robust 4-pin TOLL package has achieved the IPC-9701 mechanical reliability standard, and delivers simple, strong, dependable performance compared with multi-chip modules which require three times as many connections and have poor cooling capability, Navitas adds.
Navitas’ market-specific system design centers offer complete platform designs with benchmark efficiency, density and system cost using GaNSafe products to accelerate customer time-to-revenue and maximize the chance of first-time-right designs. These system platforms include complete design collateral with fully tested hardware, embedded software, schematics, bill-of-materials, layout, simulation and hardware test results. Examples of system platforms enabled by GaNSafe technology include:
- Navitas’ CRPS185 data-center power platform, whiich delivers a full 3200W of power in only 1U (40mm) x 73.5mm x 185mm (544cc), achieving 5.9W/cc, or almost 100W/in3 power density. This is a 40% size reduction versus the equivalent legacy silicon approach and reaches over 96.5% efficiency at 30% load, and over 96% stretching from 20% to 60% load, creating a ‘Titanium Plus’ benchmark.
- Navitas’ 6.6kW 3-in-1 bi-directional EV on-board charger (OBC) with 3kW DC–DC. This 96%+ efficient unit has over 50% higher power density, and with efficiency over 95%, delivers up to 16% energy savings compared with competing solutions.
“Our original GaNFast and GaNSense technologies have set the industry standard for mobile charging, establishing the first market with high-volume, mainstream GaN adoption to displace silicon,” claims CEO & co-founder Gene Sheridan. “GaNSafe takes our technology to the next level, as the most protected, reliable and safe GaN devices in the industry, and now also targeting 122kW power systems in AI-based data centers, EV, solar and energy storage systems,” he adds. “Customers can now achieve the full potential of GaN in these multi-billion dollar markets demanding the highest efficiency, density and reliability.”
The GaNSafe portfolio is available immediately to qualified customers, with mass production expected to begin in fourth-quarter 2023. Forty customer projects are already in progress with GaNSafe in data-center, solar, energy storage and EV applications, contributing to Navitas’ $1bn customer pipeline.
