Early days<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nGaN power devices can already be found in low volume, high end photovoltaic inverters and are being increasingly used in fast chargers for a range of mobile devices including smartphones. Indeed, Ireland\u2019s Navitas, Power Integrations of the US, as well as Innoscience of China are all manufacturing GaN power ICs for the burgeoning fast charger market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given this activity, GaN power device revenues are estimated to reach around $100 million in 2021. But as GaN device suppliers look to enter other markets to raise volumes, this figure is expected to swell to that $1 billion by 2026. And the EV\/HEV market is the first to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s early days for GaN in electric vehicles. Many power GaN players have developed and auto-qualified 650 V GaN devices for onboard chargers and DC\/DC conversion in EVs\/HEVs, with myriad partnerships already formed with automotive businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, Canada-based GaN Systems supplies its devices to US EV start-up, Canoo, for onboard chargers, and has also partnered with Canada-based EV motor drive supplier, FTEX, to integrate 650V GaN power devices into systems for e-scooters. At the same time, Transphorm, US, has teamed up with automotive supplier, Marelli, to provide devices for onboard charging and DC\/DC conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STMicroelectronics is expected to supply its yet-to-be auto-qualified devices to Renault for on EV applications, while EPC, now delivering automotive-qualified low voltage GaN, is working with French-based Brightloop to develop affordable power supply converters for off-high way and commercial vehicle. And last year, Texas Instruments also qualified its 650V GaN devices for automotive applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as the onboard charger and DC\/DC market segments gather momentum, the billion dollar question, quite literally, for GaN is will the technology make it to the main inverter of the EV\/HEV powertrain, and reap spectacularly high volumes, and high revenues that SiC is beginning to see? Early industry developments indicate this is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In February last year, Nexperia of The Netherlands hooked up with the UK consultants, Ricardo, to develop a GaN-based EV inverter design. The announcement was swiftly followed by VisIC Technologies of Israel partnering with German auto-supplier, ZF, to develop GaN semiconductors for 400 V driveline applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, in September this year, GaN Systems signed a $100 million deal with BMW to provide the capacity to manufacture GaN power devices for the German auto-maker\u2019s electric vehicles, solid evidence that OEMs are serious about GaN. And in a truly significant step, Navitas is to become a publicly traded company with a market value of $1.04 billion, by combining with special-purpose acquisition company Live Oak Acquisition. The GaN power IC player recently announced it is to supply devices to Swiss-based Brusa HyPower for onboard chargers and DC\/DC converters, and as a public company intends to put its weight behind product development for EVs\/HEVs and other markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond the deals, partnerships and mergers, early work on GaN modules also indicates that this compound semiconductor is following in the footsteps of SiC, with industry players gearing up for more widespread industry integration. For example, GaN Systems is offering a power evaluation module kit to design engineers while Transphorm has been working with Fujitsu General Electronics on a GaN module that targets industrial and automotive applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what next for both SiC and GaN? As manufacturers of power SiC devices ready for the multi-billion-dollar market that EVs\/HEVs will bring, will GaN experience the same success story? Widespread OEM adoption of GaN in drivetrain inverters would radically impact market forecasts, but right now, we can only wait and see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BY Ahmed Ben Slimane,\u00a0Ezgi Dogmus\u00a0and\u00a0Poshun Chiu In the last couple of decades, the worldwide SiC and GaN scene has been characterised by development, growing industry acceptance. In the last couple of decades, the worldwide SiC and GaN scene has been characterised by development, growing industry acceptance and the promise of billion-dollar revenues. The first commercial SiC device hit the scene in 2001…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1021,"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions\/1021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ganvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}