EPC Introduces 60 and 80V monolithic GaN Half Bridges
Over 97 percent system efficiency for a 48V to 12V buck converter at 20A output
EPC has announced the EPC2102, 60V and the EPC2103, 80V enhancement-mode monolithic GaN transistor half bridges.
For applications requiring a symmetric device ratio, the devices provide monolithic half-bridge eGaN ICs with two equal-sized die. By integrating two eGaN power FETs into a single device, interconnect inductances and the interstitial space needed on the PCB are eliminated.
This increases both efficiency (especially at higher frequencies) and power density, while reducing assembly costs, says EPC.
Using an EPC2103 in a typical buck converter, system efficiency is greater than 97 percent at 20 A, when switching at 500 kHz and converting from 48V to 12V. The second device, the EPC2102 60 V half bridge, achieves 98 percent system efficiency at 18 A, when switching at 500 kHz and converting from 42 V to 14 V.
In addition to the single-chip half bridges, two development boards are being announced. The EPC9038 and the EPC9039 boards contain one EPC2102 or EPC2103 integrated half-bridge component, respectively, along with a Texas Instruments LM5113 gate driver and all necessary supply and bypass capacitors. The board has been laid out for optimal switching performance and there are various probe points to facilitate simple waveform measurement and efficiency calculation.
