EPC ships compact 100V GaN FET
EPC2071 offers high-performance for space-constrained applications
Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) has expanded the selection of low voltage, off-the-shelf GaN transistors with the introduction of the EPC2071 (1.7 mΩ typical, 100 V) GaN FET.
The EPC2071 is said to be suitable for applications with demanding requirements for high power density performance including 48 V – 54 V input DC-DC for new servers and artificial intelligence. Lower gate charges, QGD, and zero reverse recovery losses enable high-frequency operations of 1 MHz and beyond and high efficiency in a tiny 10.2 mm2 footprint for state-of-the-art power density.
The chip is also targetted at BLDC motor drives, including e-bikes, e-scooter, robots, drones, and power tools. The EPC2071 is said to be a third the size of a silicon MOSFET with the same RDS(on), QG is a quarter of that of the MOSFET, and the dead time can be reduced from 500 ns to 20 ns to optimise motor plus inverter efficiency and reduce acoustic noise.
The EPC2071 is footprint compatible with EPC’s prior Generation 4 family of products: EPC2021, EPC2022, EPC2206. The Generation 5 improvement in Area x RDS(on) gives the EPC2071 the same on-resistance as the prior generation with a 26 percent smaller size.
“The EPC2071 makes the ideal switch for the primary side of the LLC DC-DC converter from 40 V – 60 V to 12 V- 5V. This 100-volt device offers improved performance and cost compared with previous-generation 100 V GaN FETs allowing designers to economically improve efficiency and power density”, according to Alex Lidow, EPC’s co-founder and CEO. “These parts are also suitable for telecom and server power supplies, and solar applications. Additionally, EPC2071 is less expensive than comparable silicon devices and in stock!”
The EPC9174 reference design board is a 1.2 kW, 48 V input to 12 V output LLC converter. It features the EPC2071 for the primary side full bridge. The EPC2071 enables 1 MHz switching frequency and 1.2 kW of power in a small 22.9 mm x 58.4 mm x 10 mm size (power density 1472 W/in3). The peak efficiency is 97.3 percent at 550W and the full load efficiency of 96.3 percent at 12 V, delivering 100 A output.
