GaN is reducing the power semiconductor industry’s reliance on silicon.
Industry Chip Shortage
The world is currently facing a shortage of silicon-based semiconductors, which has forced the delay of production of everything from microwaves to smartphones. Experts have stated that it will take several months or even years for the industry to recover. Moreover, this shortage could in fact change consumer electronics forever.
The industry has been heavily reliant on silicon for decades, GaN (gallium nitride) provides a new, alternative for power conversion applications. Its superior performance has been helping to make electronic devices more efficient, eco-friendly, and smaller
What is GaN?
Gallium Nitride also known as GaN is a material that has been used in the production of semiconductor power devices, RF components and light emitting diodes (LEDs). GaN can provide innovative solutions for silicon semiconductors in power conversion.
What makes GaN different?
GaN is paving the way for innovative electronic technology as it has the functionality to conduct electrons more than 1000 times more efficiently than silicon.
As transistor and IC performance increases through adoption of GaN materials, power design engineers have been starting to capitalize on its numerous potential benefits, including:
- Low resistance giving lower conductance losses
- Increased device transition speeds, yielding fewer switching losses
- Smaller devices freeing up room on the circuit board
- Reduced capacitance = less losses when charging and discharging devices
- More efficient overall
- Can survive at higher temperatures than silicon
An Eco-Friendlier Alternative
Our need for energy is increasing globally. A transition to GaN tech will help companies to meet demand whilst keeping carbon emissions to a minimum. Furthermore, GaN design and integration has proven to deliver next-generation semiconductors with a carbon footprint that is a staggering ten times lower than older silicon chips. It is also estimated that a worldwide Si-to-GaN data centre upgrade would have the capacity to reduce energy loss by an incredible 30-40%, which would save over 100 TWHr and 125 Million tons of CO2 emissions by 2030.
CPE PSUs and GaN
NetBit is always on the lookout for the latest technologies. Gallium Nitride is poised to be adopted on an ever-increasing scale in the PSU CPE market due to the potential ability to decrease the power supply size whilst increasing efficiency.
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