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Replacing Silicon With Gallium Nitride In Chips Could Reduce Energy Use By 20%
Mickeycaskill writes: Cambridge Electronics Inc (CEI), formed of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), claim semiconductors made of gallium nitride (GaN) could reduce the power consumption of data centers and consumer electronics by 20 percent by 2025. CEI has revealed a range of GaN transistors and power electronic circuits that have just one tenth of the resistance of silicon, resulting in much higher energy efficiency. The company claims to have overcome previous barriers to adoption such as safety concerns and expense through new manufacturing techniques. "Basically, we are fabricating our advanced GaN transistors and circuits in conventional silicon foundries, at the cost of silicon. The cost is the same, but the performance of the new devices is 100 times better," Cambridge Electronics researcher Bin Lu said.
Efficient Power Conversion (EPC)
GaN Systems
Transphorm
Panasonic
Infineon
Disclaimer: I work for one of the listed companies. We welcome new members to the GaN club!
I apologize to the ones that I missed.
It's also used in LED's, plus military applications like active phased array radar systems. This breakthrough will make the LED market cost plummet, plus bring the modern radar systems cost down even lower to where other gov't agencies like NOAA and even upper crust civilian markets to own the radar for their own uses.
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
Gallium Nitride (GaN) isn't going to be used for digital computer, rather it is being targeted towards power conversion circuits such as computer power supplies and motor drives. For these applications gate lengths are typically of the order of 1 micron which is child's play compared to the ultra scaled digital devices.
GaN's circuit size advantage is only partially from the reduced size of the chip, it is the fact that the GaN transistor can operate faster while producing less heat in power conversion circuits. Since the transistor produces less waste heat the heatsink is smaller. Since it can switch faster it means that the inductor and capacitor filter components can be smaller. All of this translates into much higher power per volume.