Integrating two symmetrical 650V gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors with 225mΩ RDS(on), the new MasterGaN4 power device from STMicroelectronics can simplify the design of high-efficiency power-conversion applications up to 200W. This latest addition to ST’s MasterGaN family uses wide-bandgap GaN power semiconductors by taking away the complex gate-control and circuit-layout challenges to simplify the designing process.
The device has inputs tolerant of voltages from 3.3V to 15V and can be controlled by connecting the packages directly to Hall-effect sensors or a CMOS device such as a microcontroller, DSP, or FPGA. High operating frequencies enabled by the superior switching performance of GaN transistors and increased efficiency of the MasterGaN4 power packages help reduce thermal dissipation. This enables designers to choose small magnetic components and heatsinks to build highly compact and lightweight power supplies, chargers, and adapters.
The device is ideally suited to use in symmetrical half-bridge topologies as well as soft-switching topologies such as active clamp flyback and active clamp forward. The MasterGaN4 device offers a wide supply voltage range (from 4.75V to 9.5V). This allows a convenient connection to an existing power rail. Its built-in protection feature offers safety against gate-driver interlocks, low-side and high-side under-voltage lockout (UVLO), and over-temperature protection. Other than this, there is also a dedicated shutdown pin integrated into the device.
MasterGaN4 power device is in production and is available in a 9mm x 9mm x 1mm GQFN package that has over 2mm creepage distance for safe use in high-voltage applications. The price range starts at $5.99 for orders of 1000 pieces. Besides, there is a board - EVALMASTERGAN4 which is available for $87.00 from the company website.
