Two years ago, Yole Développement (Yole) and its sister company, KnowMade, predicted that GaN-on-Si would be widely adopted by power electronics and RF applications because of its lower system cost and CMOS compatibility. The global market for GaN RF applications reached $298.5 million USD in 2015 and is expected to still grow dramatically. Yole thinks that this market size may be the reason that there is a dispute between MACOM and Infineon and potentially others. It all started when MACOM acquired Nitronex in February 2014. This transaction provided MACOM with the GaN-on-Si technology process and materials for RF and other applications. At the end of March, the company announced an IP licensing program. Today, the Nitronex patents are widely used within the power electronics and RF sectors. Within this context, MACOM could very well initiate many other legal actions. This will be worth following.You can find out more in the GaN-on-Silicon Substrate Patent Investigation report from Yole.
First redundant power supply with GaN FETs
In significant transistor news, Telcodium partnered with Transphorm to introduce the first-ever redundant power supplies using GaN FETs. This is what the industry has been waiting for: a power supply that replaces a typical three-module power supply architecture (two power supply bricks and one IBC) with a single-power module with redundant AC feeds. The module operates at 94% system efficiency, is 30% smaller than the two-brick design, and eliminates the standalone IBC. Telcodium says the design pairs a patented front-end circuitry with the JEDEC-qualified 650-V GaN FET, available from Transphorm. The resulting AC Series enables data center, server, and telecommunication manufacturers to develop smaller, high-performing systems that can virtually eliminate power supply-related failures. For Series details, see telcodium.com.
GaN Systems launches resource for placing GaN
GaN Systems launches an online portal and newsroom solely focused on GaN power innovation. It helps to keep the media and power design engineers up to date with respect to GaN innovations and designing GaN transistors into electronic systems. Power industry professionals will have access to a central repository that contains press releases, videos, articles, newsletters, market dynamics, and other resources about GaN transistors and GaN innovations.
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