News: Microelectronics
10 June 2024
Transphorm adds Farnell as global distributor
Farnell Global (which trades as Farnell in Europe, Newark in North America and element14 in Asia Pacific) has announced a new global distribution partnership with Transphorm Inc of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA, which designs and manufactures JEDEC- and AEC-Q101-qualified high-voltage gallium nitride (GaN) field-effect transistors (FETs) for power conversion applications.
Transphorm’s high-performance, high-reliability SuperGaN power semiconductors leverage a power GaN IP portfolios of 1000+ patents within a wide variety of device packages. This technology is harnessed in a normally-off d-mode GaN platform that delivers what is claimed to be best-in-class robustness and reliability. End products using SuperGaN FETs are said to gain advantages such as higher power density and efficiency along with lower total power system cost versus alternative solutions.
“Onboarding Transphorm as a new supplier supports our commitment to deliver high-quality products to customers while giving them the ability to choose preferred manufacturers as well as the best GaN device package and performance to meet their design needs,” says Jose Lok, Farnell product category director — Passives & Semiconductors.
Transphorm’s GaN innovations are claimed to have led to several industry firsts, such as the 1200V GaN-on-sapphire device slated for commercial availability in mid-2024; short-circuit withstand times of 5μs; and a GaN four-quadrant switch with true voltage and current bidirectionality control.
“The primary advantage of SuperGaN is the use of GaN in its native d-mode form. By doing this, the 2DEG [two-dimensional electron gas] channel that is spontaneously created between the undoped GaN and AlGaN layers is left untouched. This yields a simple-to-manufacture solution that harnesses all the 2DEG’s inherent advantages, maximizing the device’s electron mobility and charge while minimizing temperature effects,” says Lok. “The result is the highest-performing solution spanning the widest power spectrum versus other silicon and WBG [wide-bandgap] technologies. These are just some of the many reasons we are now delighted to offer them, with rapid ordering and delivery options, to our customers,” he adds.
“The power electronics market across all industries is radically changing as power conversion technologies like our SuperGaN platform drive major design and performance advantages,” says Vipin Bothra, Transphorm’s VP of sales for North America and Europe. “Our GaN devices are currently being adopted into a global consumer, industrial and automotive markets. We feel it is critical to enable our customers to access our devices however they prefer. Partnering with well-respected global distributors like Farnell is a necessary step to meeting that objective,” he adds. “We look forward to a strong, mutually beneficial relationship that helps revolutionize power systems in everything from adapters and PCs to renewable energy systems and electric vehicles.”
