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Strategies & Market Trends : The Art of Investing
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Sun Tzu
To: Sun Tzu who wrote (3179)1/7/2022 2:58:37 PM
From: Lou Weed2 Recommendations  Read Replies (1) of 10725
 
Good questions. GaN has higher electron mobility than SiC and both have much higher than silicon. GaN and SiC also have much lower switching and conduction losses than silicon. This means they both can switch at much higher frequencies than silicon and still have lower losses i.e. more efficient. The advantage of being able to switch at much higher frequencies is that the associated systems' inductors and capacitors can physically become much smaller, thereby increasing system power density and physical size of the product. Therein lies the value add to the more expensive GaN and SiC components. They cost more than silicon but your overall system cost is cheaper (smaller inductors/capacitors/heatsinks and housings).

Now to the GaN v SiC difference. GaN's higher electron mobility than SiC means that it can switch at even higher frequencies than SiC for the same power loss or efficiency. GaN is limited to 650V max ratings today whereas SiC's limit is at 10kV currently. The mobile/laptop/tablet charger arena uses 650V parts so GaN presents a much better value prop in this market than SiC (allows multiple MHz switching versus up to 1Mhz with SiC versus 300kHz to 500kHz with silicon). EV onboard chargers up to 11kW have 240Vac max input so 650V GaN can be used here also. For systems that require 1200V rated parts and higher (systems with 480V 3-phase input or 800V battery), SiC is king.

The CEO stating regulating power more precisely versus silicon is true given faster switching but that's marketing speak as the silicon parts performance is more than sufficient for these systems. You were able to sniff that one out <g>.

NVTS are the first to market with monolithic chip in QFN format. The rest will follow. One of the main advantages of the smaller package I didn't mention previously is its lower inherent stray inductance that enables even higher system switching frequencies.

Hope I got everything....
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