Transphorm and Silanna develop 65W USB-C GaN-based Design
GaN-based solution delivers 30W/in3 power density and 94.5 percent efficiency
GaN power specialist Transphorm and fellow California-based power chip maker Silanna Semiconductor have worked together to produce a GaN power adapter reference design.
The solution is an open frame, 65W USB-C Power Delivery (PD) charger that combines Transphorm’s SuperGaN Gen IV platform with Silanna Semiconductor’s proprietary Active Clamp Flyback (ACF) PWM controller.
Together, the technologies yield peak efficiency of 94.5 percent with an uncased power density of 30W/in3. According to the companies, these performance levels outpace the currently available competing solutions using silicon superjunction MOSFETs or e-mode GaN transistors, and furthermore use a smaller GaN FET from Transphorm.
Silanna Semiconductor and Transphorm’s universal GaN adapter design is suitable for powering laptops, tablets, smartphones and other IoT devices.
The SuperGaN FET is Transphorm’s TP65H300G4LSG, a 650 V 240 mΩ device in an industry standard PQFN88 package. It is built on the SuperGaN Gen IV platform, which uses advanced epi and patented design technologies to improve performance.
Unlike e-mode devices, the GaN FET requires no protective external circuitry such as additional bias rails or level shifters —an advantage that produces higher efficiency. Collectively, these and other features further increase the adapter system’s overall power density and reduce BoM costs.
Silanna's SZ1130 is said to be the first fully-integrated ACF PWM controller that integrates an adaptive digital PWM controller, an Active Clamp FET, an Active Clamp Gate Driver, and a UHV Startup regulator.
As an ACF solution, it is said to deliver higher performance than competing quasi-resonant (QR) controllers and offers a simple design in the smallest PCB area among all ACF controllers in the market.
Tushar Dhayagude, VP field applications and technical sales, Transphorm said: “Our GaN FETs are known to improve efficiency, power dissipation and size of AC/DC chargers, particularly when compared to competitive e-mode GaN and integrated GaN IC solutions.”
Ahsan Zaman, director of marketing, Silanna said: “At Silanna Semiconductor, we are extremely excited to further advance the best-in-class efficiency and power density results by combining our knowledge and expertise with technology ecosystem partners to deliver some of the world’s most innovative products.”
