Audio Speakers, lasers, and DC-DC wireless chargers hit record performance with GaN
OTTAWA, Ontario – October 19, 2017 – From Beethoven to Beyoncé and from the Allman Brothers to ZZ Top, your music sounds better with higher highs, lower lows, and less harmonic distortion. From heavy-duty industrial cutting lasers to delicate, precise medical lasers, the result is better with fast turn-on, fast turn-off, and short duration power pulses. DC-DC converters for Data Center and high-density wireless chargers require exceptional switching performance in their power stages. The key electrical components that make this all happen are ultrafast power transistors and speedy transistor drivers to deliver precise, megahertz pulses of energy to the intended loads.
GaN Systems announces today the availability of a new Evaluation Board using the world’s fastest combination of GaN power transistors and power drivers. Combining best-in-class GaN transistors with the fastest commercially available GaN transistor driver on the GS61004B evaluation board, the GS61004B-EVBDC evaluation platform is now available with the latest in high-speed GaN E-HEMT drivers from Peregrine Semiconductor. The evaluation kit (GS61004B-EVBDC) combines GaN Systems’ GS61004B power transistors with the fastest GaN transistor driver available – the PE29102 – from Peregrine Semiconductor. This combination on the GS61004B-EVBDC evaluation platform provides power design engineers with a host of added benefits, including:
- Four GS61004B GaN transistors and two PE29102 E-HEMT drivers
- GaN transistors operable up to 100 MHz
- Transistor driver operable up to 40MHz
- Best-in-class propagation delay
- Optimized, Vcc independent, for matched dead time
- Integrated dead-time control, resistor-adjustable
The GS61004B GaN E-HEMTs used in conjunction with the PE29102 high-speed GaN E-HEMT Driver, generate low dead times to minimize crossover distortion in class-D applications. The PE29102’s unique set of phase-control pins enable the same part to be used for both phases in bridge-tied load (BTL) configurations—a technique used in audio amplifiers.
Commenting on this development, Paul Wiener, Vice President Strategic Marketing for GaN Systems stated, “By providing an evaluation kit with GaN Systems’ world’s best power transistors and Peregrine Semiconductor’s fastest-ever GaN transistor driver, design engineers have an easy-to-use platform for optimizing their system’s performance and gaining a competitive advantage. GaN Systems is pleased to provide yet one more tool that makes it easy to design with GaN transistors.”
“By enabling GaN to reach its performance potential, UltraCMOS® technology and Peregrine are playing a role in GaN’s disruption into more mainstream applications,” says Mark Moffat, director of Peregrine’s power management product line. “In the case of audio, GaN technology is enabling the next-generation of class-D audio advancements, and Peregrine is proud to enable GaN in audio and beyond.”
