Renesas releases hi-rel GaN devices
Radiation hardened GaN FETs and drivers target power supplies in launch vehicles and satellites as well as downhole drilling and industrial applications
Renesas has announced a range of radiation hardened Intersil GaN products for satellite and high reliability applications including commercial aerospace, medical, and nuclear power generation. The range includes GaN FETs and a GaN FET driver.
GaN's advantages of size, weight and efficiency are well known. But it also has benefits in applications that encounter ionising radiation. Unlike silicon FETs, GaN FETS do not have a gate oxide layer. That means radiation cannot form traps in the gate oxide that would otherwise shift the gate to source threshold voltage.
The ISL7023SEH 100V, 60A GaN FET and ISL70024SEH 200V, 7.5A GaN FET use the base die manufactured by Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC).The GaN FETs provide up to ten orders of magnitude better performance than silicon MOSFETs while reducing package size by 50 percent, according to Renesas.
They also reduce power supply weight and achieve higher power efficiency with less switching power loss. At 5mΩ (RDSON) and 14nC (QG), the ISL70023SEH enables the industry's best figure of merit (FOM).
Both GaN FETs require less heat sinking due to reduced parasitic elements, and their ability to operate at high frequencies allows the use of smaller output filters, which achieve excellent efficiencies in a compact solution size.
Manufactured using a MIL-PRF-38535 Class V-like flow, the ISL70023SEH and ISL70024SEH offer guaranteed electrical specifications over the military temperature range and lot-by-lot radiation assurance for high dose rate 100krad(Si) and low dose rate 75krad(Si).
The ISL70040SEH low side GaN FET driver powers the ISL7002xSEH GaN FETs with a regulated 4.5V gate drive voltage and splits the outputs to adjust FET turn-on and turn-off speeds. Operating with a supply voltage of 4.5V to 13.2V, the FET driver provides high current source and sink capability for high frequency operation, while offering both inverting and non-inverting gate drive to provide flexibility in power supply designs.
"We are pleased to see Renesas Electronics continue Intersil's six decades of spaceflight product development and leadership," said Alex Lidow, EPC's co-founder and CEO. "It is especially gratifying and exciting to see our innovative enhancement-mode gallium nitride-on-silicon (eGaN®) FET technology at work with Renesas' new radiation-hardened GaN FET driver. These products demonstrate how eGaN technology increases the performance and reduces the cost for applications currently being served by MOSFETs."
"Size, weight and power efficiency mean everything to designers and manufactures of launch vehicles and satellites," said Philip Chesley, VP of Industrial Analog and Power Business Division, Renesas Electronics Corporation. "The new ISL7002xSEH GaN FETs and ISL70040SEH GaN FET driver represent the most meaningful power management innovation we've seen in a long time for the spaceflight industry."
Typical applications for these devices include primary and secondary DC/DC converter power supplies in launch vehicles and satellites, as well as downhole drilling and high reliability industrial applications.
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