News: Microelectronics
29 February 2024
CGD showcases new reference designs and demos at APEC 2024
At the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference & Exposition (APEC 2024) in Long Beach, CA, USA (25–29 February), fabless firm Cambridge GaN Devices Ltd (CGD) — which was spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2016 to design, develop and commercialize power transistors and ICs that use GaN-on-silicon substrates — is addressing higher-power industrial applications with its ICeGaN technology by introducing new reference designs and showing demos that address the broad and diverse industrial market.
“We are acutely aware of the increasing power requirements of industrial applications, and the need for high efficiency” says chief commercial officer Andrea Bricconi. “For example, as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) proliferates, the power demanded by the exponential growth in power demanded by data centers is growing almost exponentially. Other applications, such as solar inverters, amplifiers, transport and smart mobility, process control and manufacturing are also interested in GaN and the feedback we have received is that they love the simplicity of our ‘Drive it Like a MOSFET’ approach.”
With a high power density of 23W/in3, GGD’s 350W PFC/LLC reference design has an average efficiency of 93%, and a no-load power consumption of 150mW. The CrM totem-pole PFC + half-bridge LLC PSU has been realised using CGD’s 650V, 55mΩ, H2 series ICeGaN technology, and delivers 20V/17.5A output.
The result of a partnership deal struck last year with Neways Electronics, a 3kW photovoltaic inverter is used to boost the DC solar voltage to a stable DC link voltage. With a maximum efficiency of 99.22% due to zero-current switching, it is an example of how CGD’s GaN HEMT structure is simple for engineers to use, since it employs a standard silicon controller from Analog Devices Inc.
ICeGaN has been employed by AGD Productions in its compact AGD DUET amplifier, which is rated at 300W 4Ω. This is the first time that the company has used a 100% GaN power transistor design for both the power stage and the amplifier.
Finally, the GaNext project, a consortium of 13 partners from three nations, has delivered compact 1kW intelligent power modules featuring integrated drive, voltage control and protection circuits using CGD’s ICeGaN.
CGD addressing challenges of data centers at APEC
CGD and Neways co-developing GaN-based solar inverters
