GaN power semiconductors represent the future of next-generation power systems, and Transphorm, Inc., a leader in this field, announced that the company Demonstrated short-circuit withstand time (SCWT) up to 5 microseconds on GaN power transistors with patented technology. This is the first such achievement on record and marks a major milestone for the industry as a whole. It demonstrates Transphorm GaN’s ability to meet the short-circuit capability required for robust power inverters such as servo motors, industrial motors and automotive powertrains traditionally powered by silicon IGBTs or silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs. In the next 5 years, GaN TAM will exceed 3 billion US dollars.
Development of this demonstration was generously supported by Yaskawa Electric Corporation. Yaskawa Electric Corporation is a long-term strategic partner of Transphorm and a global leader in low and medium voltage drives, servo systems, machine controllers and industrial robots. This makes GaN an attractive power conversion technology for servo systems due to its higher efficiency and smaller size compared to existing solutions. To do this, GaN must pass rigorous robustness tests, of which short-circuit survivability is the most difficult one. In the event of a short circuit fault, the equipment operates under extreme conditions of high current and voltage. It may take several microseconds for the system to detect a fault and shut down operation. During this time, the device must be able to withstand failure on its own.
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“If the power semiconductor device cannot withstand a short-circuit event, the system itself may fail,” said Motoshige Maeda, manager of the Basic R&D Management Division of Yaskawa’s Corporate Technology Division. “It is generally accepted in the industry that GaN power transistors cannot meet the short-circuit requirements required for heavy-duty power applications like ours. After working with Transphorm for many years, we felt that this perception was unwarranted, and our judgment is vindicated today. We are heartened by what the team has achieved and look forward to demonstrating specific ways in which our designs can benefit from this new GaN capability .”
The short-circuit technique has been demonstrated on a newly designed 15 mΩ 650 V GaN device. Notably, the device achieves a peak efficiency of 99.2% and a maximum power of 12kW at 50kHz with hard switching. The device not only has excellent performance, but also has high reliability, and can meet the stress requirements of high temperature and high pressure.
Umesh Mishra, CTO and co-founder of Transphorm, said: “Standard GaN devices can only withstand short circuits of a few hundredths of a nanosecond, which is too short for fault detection and safe shutdown. But with the cascaded architecture and key patented technology, we Ability to achieve short circuit withstand times of up to 5 microseconds without the use of additional external components, maintaining low cost and high performance. We understand the demands of today’s high power, high performance inverter systems. Our long term focus on Innovative work and proud to say that innovative experience has helped us take GaN to the next level. This is yet another proof that Transphorm is a global leader in high voltage GaN robustness and reliability and will facilitate motor drives and other high power systems GaN revolution.”
SOURCE: BusinessWire