Gallium Nitride (GaN) Technology Overview

Abstract

EFFICIENT POWER CONVERSION SilicON POwer MOSFeTS FrOM 1976-2010 For over three decades, power management efficiency and cost showed steady improvement as innovations in power MOSFET structures, technology, and circuit to-pologies paced the growing need for electrical power in our daily lives. In the new millennium, however, the rate of improvement slowed as the silicon power MOSFET asymptotically approached its theoretical bounds. Power MOSFETs first started appearing in 1976 as alternatives to bipolar transistors. These majority carrier devices were faster, more rugged, and had higher current gain than their minority-carrier counterparts. As a result, switching power conversion became a commercial reality. AC-DC switching power supplies for early desktop computers were among the earliest volume consumers of power MOSFETs, followed by variable speed motor drives, fluorescent lights, DC-DC converters, and thou-sands of other applications that populate our daily lives. One of the earliest power MOSFETs was the IRF100 from International Rectifier Corporation, introduced in November 1978. It boasted a 100 V drain-source breakdown voltage and a 0.1 Ω on-resistance; the benchmark of the era. With a die size over 40 mm