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Replacing Silicon With Gallium Nitride In Chips Could Reduce Energy Use By 20%

Posted by samzenpus on from the more-bang-for-your-buck dept.

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.

3 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. What goes around, comes around by BeerCat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I remember back in the 80s that light meters in cameras used to use Silicon (SPD - Silicon Photo Diode), but then they all started using Gallium Arsenide (GASP - Gallium Arsenide Photo Diode), as it reacted faster (presumably because of the lower resistance).

    There was even talk back then about making Gallium based semi-conductors, for the same reason.

    Good to see it coming to fruition

    --
    "She's furniture with a pulse"
  2. Other companies doing Gallium Nitride (GaN) by elgol · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  3. Re:Denser chips by MattskEE · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.