GaN takes energy efficiency to new heights!
According to a 2016 study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [1] , data centers in the United States are expected to consume an astonishing 73 billion kilowatt-hours of energy by 2020. As long as our demand for compute-intensive data services continues to increase, it will be necessary to provide more energy in a smaller space to run these centers as efficiently as possible.
And this energy usage only represents data centers. In fact, telecommunications, industrial automation, automobiles and many other systems also need to provide high-density power systems.
One way to improve power transmission efficiency is to use new energy semiconductor technologies, including gallium nitride (GaN). Compared with traditional silicon solutions, GaN has inherently superior device properties in switching performance. When it is deployed in switching power supplies, it can efficiently supply power and increase efficiency to unprecedented heights. This helps end users to fundamentally save energy, reduce operating costs and reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
GaN has its challenges. In the past, these challenges were related to the ability to manufacture and deliver high-quality, reliable GaN. However, as manufacturing processes improve and adoption increases across the industry, the challenges are becoming more focused on implementation and system design. Achieving higher efficiency requires more than just replacing silicon with GaN, as current technology is already enabling system-level changes that significantly improve efficiency. Technology gives design engineers the ability to increase slew rates, switching frequencies, and drive power consumption even lower.
These new design challenges provide significant opportunities for innovation and differentiation of the final product.
Texas Instruments (TI) is a leader in promoting GaN development and supporting system designers to adopt this new technology. TI's GaN-based power solutions and reference designs are committed to helping system designers save space, achieve higher power efficiency and simplify the design process. TI's novel solutions not only optimize performance, but also overcome challenging implementation issues, allowing customers to design energy-efficient systems and build a greener world.
GaN provides more efficient and superior power for a number of reasons. Fast ramp times, low on-resistance, low gate capacitance, and output capacitance all reduce switching losses and enable operation at multiple frequencies, often an order of magnitude faster than today’s silicon-based solutions. This is shown in Figure 1. Lower losses equate to more efficient power distribution, which reduces heat and simplifies practical cooling solutions.
Figure 1. Comparison of GaN vs. Si device losses
Additionally, high-frequency operation has a positive impact on solution cost, as the size, weight and required materials of necessary magnetic components such as transformers and inductors are reduced.
An application that benefits most from GaN's inherent advantages is switch-mode power supplies.
The goal of an AC/DC power supply is to convert the AC line power to a lower voltage to power or charge low-voltage electrical devices such as mobile phones or personal computers, and this is usually achieved through several power stages. The first stage is the ordinary power supply, which includes supplying AC line power, which generates a DC bus high voltage, usually 380 V, through a power factor correction (PFC) stage. In the second stage, this voltage is converted to a low voltage (usually 48 V or 12 V) via a high-voltage DC/DC converter. These two stages are called AC-DC conversion stages. They are generally deployed together and provide isolation measures to protect equipment and personnel. The 12 V or 48 V output voltage of the second-stage converter is distributed to the end-use circuits located at different load points (POLs), such as different circuit boards in an equipment cabinet. The third-stage converter has one or more DC converters that can generate the low voltage required by the electronic components.
The example in Figure 2 shows a 1kW GaN-based AC/DC and how GaN improves the power density of the PFC stage, high voltage DC/DC converter, and POL stage. The most important point about this example is not just that GaN is used, but more importantly how it is used. We still use PFC, DC/DC, and POL, but their implementation or the power topology used is different, and the optimized power topology can maximize the performance of GaN.
Figure 2. GaN solutions enable smaller footprint and higher efficiency at all stages of the power supply.
The PFC stage (Figure 3) uses a high-efficiency totem-pole topology, which enables a unique combination of high power density, high efficiency, and low power consumption that is not possible with similar silicon-based designs. This stage has an efficiency of over 99% and reduces power consumption by over 10W compared to traditional diode bridge boost PFC using silicon.
Figure 3. GaN PFC topology
The high-voltage DC/DC stage uses a highly efficient resonant logic-link control (LLC) converter (Figure 4). Although the use of silicon in LLC converters is common, the advantages of GaN are that it increases power density by 50% and increases switching frequency by an order of magnitude. A 1-MHz GaN-based LLC requires a transformer that is one-sixth smaller than the transformer used in a 100-kHz silicon-based LLC design.
Figure 4. GaN LLC topology
The POL stage exploits GaN’s efficient switching properties to enable a high-efficiency hard-switching converter from 48 V directly to 1 V. Most silicon solutions require an intermediate fourth stage to convert 48 V to 12 V, but GaN enables true single-stage conversion, directly to 1 V. In this way, GaN-based designs can reduce component count by half and increase power density by a factor of three (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Two POL stages to a single stage
GaN's advantages are not limited to AC/DC power supplies.
There are a variety of other applications that can benefit from the higher efficiency and power density that GaN offers, as shown in Figure 6. The end devices mentioned below or some of the more exciting areas are rapidly increasing the utilization of GaN.
Figure 6. Actual and potential GaN application areas
In motors for robotics and other industrial applications, size and power efficiency are key, but other factors also come into play.
Using GaN solutions, pulse width modulation (PWM) frequencies are increased and switching losses are reduced, which helps drive permanent magnet and brushless DC motors with very low inductance. These characteristics also minimize torque ripple, enabling precise positioning in servo drives and steppers, and supporting high-speed motors with high voltages in applications such as drones.
The need for increasingly narrow widths has quickly made GaN FETs and drivers essential components for LiDAR, which many people more commonly associate with sensing for autonomous vehicles, although it is also used in robotics, drones, security, mapping, and a variety of other fields. Requirements for next-generation LiDAR include greater range and higher resolution to improve the instrument's ability to sense farther distances and identify objects more efficiently. GaN's low input and high capacitance enable higher peak output optical power with shorter pulses, which improves imaging resolution while protecting eye safety.
Figure 7. GaN inverter, 100kHz 3-level design
High-performance audio amplifiers require nearly ideal switching waveforms to reduce distortion, because any harmonics of unwanted frequencies will lead to the audible frequency band. GaN solves this problem, it can switch efficiently at much higher slew rates, and the switching behavior is highly predictable, greatly reducing harmonic distortion, achieving more ideal audio performance, and limiting noise to a higher inaudible frequency band.
由于高频电源系统设计带来了新的挑战,即使老练的电源设计师也要经受考验,但如果有现成的解决方案就可以显著缩短设计周期。TI 供应完整的电源级产品,可帮助设计师把问题大大简化。 我们现有的解决方案能够满足电源供应链中不同的电压水平和需求, 这些解决方案在小巧的低电感封装内集成了内置保护功能。 另外,TI的GaN FET驱动器和可以与该驱动器无缝配对的高频模拟与数字控制器,共同有力支持了利用基础元件构建电源系统的设计师。
Figure 8. LMG3410: 600V/70mΩ 12A GaN power stage
The LMG3410 shown in Figure 8 is a single-channel power stage that combines a 70 mΩ, 600 V GaN FET and an optimized driver in the same module to minimize parasitic effects that affect high-speed designs through independent components. Built-in features provide temperature, current, and undervoltage lockout (UVLO) fault protection to ensure safe and reliable operation.
For designers of applications that require efficient operation in a small size, the LMG5200 shown in Figure 9 is a fully integrated half-bridge power stage that provides an 80-V, 10-A solution that includes a half-bridge gate driver and high-side and low-side GaN FETs. The LMG5200 interfaces directly with analog controllers such as TI's TPS53632G for DC/DC conversion applications and digital controllers such as TI's C2000TM real-time microcontrollers for audio and motor control applications.
Figure 9. LMG5200: 80 V/10 A GaN half-bridge power stage
Almost as important as the products themselves in simplifying the design process is a complete set of development tools. Evaluation modules (EVMs) help designers understand the operation of the solution and make important decisions. Reference designs provide reliable, ready-made circuits that can be used in applications in radar, automotive, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), motor control, current measurement, and other fields. Our deep support in all areas helps customers design GaN power systems that are as efficient as possible.
GaN technology is already playing a major role in reducing system size and improving power efficiency. The savings achieved by this technology have a significant impact on all applications, especially data centers, base stations and other high-density systems. In addition, GaN's high-frequency operation facilitates precise motor control and provides higher resolution for LiDAR and audio applications. As innovative topologies and new approaches are invented and applied, other types of applications will quickly follow.
So power system designers no longer have to wait for the GaN revolution to break out. GaN solutions are here today, and TI is committed to and continues to drive innovation in this technology, and we are constantly developing more advanced technologies. Integrated solutions save development time and are ready to use, and our reference designs for a wide range of applications are steadily increasing. As the demand for power efficiency becomes more and more urgent, TI technology and solutions continue to maintain leading innovation to help the world become smarter and greener.
Make an appointment to watch TI GaN live!
To help you further understand how TI GaN achieves high efficiency and high density in PFC, we will hold a live lecture from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm on August 14. Scan the QR code below to make an appointment to watch!
In addition, you can also open the "Texas Instruments" applet to obtain TI GaN related training videos!
references
1. Shehabi, A., Smith, S.J., Horner, N., Azevedo, I., Brown, R., Koomey, J., Masanet, E., Sartor, D., Herrlin, M., Lintner, W. 2016. United States Data Center Energy Usage Report. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California. LBNL-1005775
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