Renesas, the world's leading provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, has released the industry's first two-way switch based on depletion-mode (d-mode) gallium nitride (GaN) technology. The device integrates DC blocking to block both positive and negative currents in a single device. The products are mainly aimed at single-stage solar micro-inverter, artificial intelligence data center and on-board charger applications. This high-voltage model TP65B110HRU greatly simplifies power converter design, replacing traditional back-to-back FET switches with a single low-loss, fast-switching, and easy-to-drive device.

Single-stage topology improves efficiency and reduces component count. Current high power conversion designs typically employ unidirectional silicon or silicon carbide (SiC) switches that can only block current in a single direction in the off state. Therefore, the power conversion must be divided into multiple stages, including multiple switching bridge circuits. For example, a typical solar micro-inverter uses a four-switch full bridge for a first stage of DC-to-DC conversion, followed by a second stage to generate AC power for final output to the grid. Although the electronics industry is moving towards more efficient single-stage converters, engineers still need to overcome the inherent switching limitations. Many current single-stage designs still use traditional unidirectional back-to-back switches, resulting in a fourfold increase in the number of switches and reduced efficiency. Bidirectional GaN technology has completely changed this situation. By integrating bidirectional blocking on a single GaN product, power conversion can be single-stage and use fewer switching devices. A typical solar micro-inverter, for example, requires only two high-voltage Renesas SuperGaN®Bidirectional devices are sufficient, no intermediate DC link capacitors are needed, and the number of switches is halved. In addition, GaN products have the characteristics of fast switching speed and low stored charge, which supports higher switching frequency and power density. In actual single-stage solar microinverter applications, the new GaN architecture achieves power efficiency of more than 97.5 percent after eliminating back-to-back connections and slow silicon switches.

Combine robust performance with reliability and silicon compatible drivers. Renesas's market-proven 650V SuperGaN devices are based on proprietary normally-off technology, which is simple to drive and highly robust. TP65B110HRU co-package a high-voltage bidirectional d-mode GaN chip with two low-voltage silicon MOSFETs with a high threshold voltage of 3V, a high gate margin of ± 20V, and a built-in body diode for efficient reverse conduction. In contrast to conventional enhancement-mode (e-mode) bidirectional GaN devices, the Renesas bidirectional GaN switch is compatible with standard gate drivers that do not require a negative gate bias. This results in a simpler, lower cost gate loop design and fast and stable switching with no performance penalty in both soft and hard switching operation. For power conversion topologies that require hard switching, such as a Vienna-style rectifier, its high dv/dt capability of greater than 100V/ns can reduce ringing and shorten the delay during switching transitions. Renesas GaN devices achieve true high robustness, high performance, and easy-to-use bidirectional switching.

"Expanding our SuperGaN technology to the bidirectional GaN platform marks a significant shift in power conversion design specifications," said Rohan Sansi, vice president of the GaN business unit at Renesas Electronics. "Customers can now use fewer switch components to achieve higher efficiency, smaller PCB area, and lower system costs. At the same time, they can accelerate the design process by leveraging Renesas' system-level integration with gate drivers, controllers, and power management ICs."

Key features of the TP65B110HRU: