9 November 2016

Transphorm expands second-generation portfolio with lower on-resistance TO-220 650V GaN FET

Transphorm Inc of Goleta, near Santa Barbara, CA, USA — which designs and manufactures JEDEC-qualified 650V gallium nitride (GaN)-based devices for high-voltage power conversion applications — says that its new TPH3212PS device (available in a TO-220 package) has an on-resistance of 72mΩ and targets AC-to-DC and DC-to-AC power supplies. When used in the former, the TPH3212PS — along with its fellow family members — enables the implementation of bridgeless totem-pole power factor correction (PFC) designs.

The firm's product portfolio consists of 600V and 650V discrete field-effect transistors (FETs) spanning TO-220, TO-247 and PQFN88 packages for power levels up to 4.5kW. The TPH3212PS fills a power level gap in its second-generation product line, specifically between the 52mΩ and 110mΩ FETs, offering greater design flexibility to battery charger, PV inverter, server and servo motor manufacturers.

Transphorm says that release of the TPH3212PS remains in step with its mission to enable design engineers to effectively implement GaN technology into designs. The firm develops its GaN in well-understood TO-XXX and PQFN88 packages. Further, it uses the high-reliability cascode configuration, which eliminates the need for custom drivers and — most importantly — considerably increases the GaN FET's gate safety margin.

"Transphorm aims to enable the market by delivering GaN in the highest-quality, highest-reliability format," says chief technology officer Umesh Mishra. "We recognize GaN is not just a drop-in replacement for silicon MOSFETs used today," he adds. "Board re-design and system modifications are required to capitalize on GaN's complete set of benefits, from performance through to system cost. If we can minimize that learning curve by working with well-known packages and a configuration that behaves similarly to a MOSFET, we believe the industry will move further faster."

Benefits of the TPH3212PS are said to include:

• a 30-40% increase in system-level power density;
• 2-4x faster switching compared with silicon; lowering crossover losses to increase system efficiency;
• compatible with off-the-shelf gate drivers, increasing gate safety margin to an unmatched +/- maximum 18V gate drive; and
• for designs moving from standard PFC to bridgeless totem-pole, elimination of the use of a bridge rectifier, parallel FETs and additional passives as the power level increases, reducing overall system cost.

Fully qualified and in production, the TPH3212PS is priced at $8.94 in 1000-unit quantities. It is currently supported by a SPICE program and application notes. A full evaluation kit for 2.5kW hard-switched half-bridge, buck or boost designs is available for pre-order, priced at $250.

Tags: Transphorm GaN-on-Si GaN HEMT Power electronics

Visit: www.transphormusa.com