The announcement marks the company’s second automotive-qualified product line. And, notably, its most reliable given the Gen III GaN platform’s ability to perform at 175°C during qualification testing.
The company's Gen III AEC-Q101 GaN FET, the TP65H035WSQA, offers on-resistance of 35 mΩ in an industry standard TO-247 package. And, as with its predecessor, the 50 mΩ Gen II TPH3205WSBQA, the devices have been developed to target AC to DC on-board chargers (OBCs), DC to DC converters and DC to AC inverter systems for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEV).
Launched in June 2018, Transphorm’s Gen III devices came onto the market as the highest reliability, highest quality [Q+R] GaN FETs available, and offer lower electromagnetic interference along with increased noise immunity [threshold voltage at 4 V] and gate robustness [at ±20 V].
These advances have produced quieter switching and higher performance at higher current levels with minimal external circuitry.
For this latest automotive qualification, the semiconductor manufacturer stressed the devices’ thermal limits to 25°C more than those of the standard AEC-Q101-qualified high voltage Silicon MOSFET counterparts.
Beyond proving the GaN platform’s robustness, the higher temperature testing demonstrates that the AEC-Q101 GaN FETs will give design engineers ample thermal headroom when developing any power system.
“Proving device quality and reliability is perhaps the most critical factor influencing customer confidence in high voltage GaN FETs, particularly in the automotive and electric vehicle markets,” explained Philip Zuk, Vice President of Worldwide Technical Marketing, Transphorm. “To that end, we ensure that our GaN maintains its performance and reliability even in real-world conditions that may be far harsher than what mission profiles call for. As shown by the published reliability data, our JEDEC-qualified Gen III platform has a Field Failure FIT rate of 3, which is in line with that of Silicon Carbide. It’s this high reliability level that allowed Transphorm to release a Gen III automotive FET at 1750C.”
