Gallium-nitride technology
How Power Integrations brings GaN into high-voltage power
GaN power semiconductors are increasingly replacing conventional silicon transistors because of their high efficiency and switching frequency.
Power Integrations
Power Integrations has extended its PowiGaN technology to 2200 V. The new voltage class is designed to support denser and more efficient power architectures for electric vehicles, AI data centres, solar inverters and HVDC infrastructure.
Power Integrations has extended its PowiGaN gallium-nitride technology to a blocking voltage of up to 2200 V. According to the company, this is the highest commercially available voltage rating for GaN semiconductors so far. The technology targets high-voltage applications in electric vehicles, AI data centres, photovoltaic systems and HVDC infrastructure, and is intended to support the use of higher DC voltage architectures.
For Power Integrations, the step broadens the potential role of GaN beyond lower-voltage efficiency gains. The company is positioning PowiGaN as an option for power supply designs in which voltage headroom, high switching frequencies and power density have to come together.
Why does GaN need higher voltage ratings?
GaN power semiconductors are increasingly replacing conventional silicon transistors because of their high efficiency and switching frequency. As voltages rise in AI data centres, electric vehicles and energy systems, however, previous GaN solutions have reached practical limits.
Alternatives such as silicon carbide or series-connected GaN devices can address higher voltages, but they also increase design effort and may reduce power density and reliability. A 2200-V GaN technology is therefore intended to simplify high-voltage designs while preserving the switching advantages that make GaN attractive in the first place.
What role does PowiGaN play in 1500-V architectures?
PowiGaN ICs with a blocking voltage of 1700 V are already being developed for single-stage auxiliary power supplies in data centres. The 1250-V version is intended to offer a simpler alternative to stacked solutions in the main power path of 800-V DC data-centre architectures.
With the new 2200-V technology, even higher DC-link voltages could be realised in future. Power Integrations says this should help secure power supply designs for future data centres, electric vehicles, photovoltaic inverters and battery energy storage systems.
The technology is therefore relevant wherever power electronics have to handle higher voltages without making the system architecture unnecessarily complex. For electric vehicles, this points towards future battery and onboard electrical systems with rising output voltages. For energy infrastructure, it supports applications in solar generation, battery storage and high-voltage direct-current transmission.
Why GaN is becoming a high-frequency alternative
Jennifer Lloyd, President and CEO of Power Integrations, said the 2200-V PowiGaN technology provides significant voltage margin for future high-voltage power supply systems while enabling the high switching frequencies required for maximum power density.
According to Lloyd, new applications include next-generation AI data centres, for which industry roadmaps already foresee 1500-V distribution architectures, as well as future battery and onboard electrical systems for electric vehicles with further increasing 48-V output voltages.
She added that the milestone extends the use of GaN into voltage classes that had previously been reserved for silicon carbide. It also creates a high-frequency alternative for photovoltaic, HVDC and industrial power conversion applications.
Roy Dagher, technology and market analyst for compound semiconductors at Yole Group, sees the shift to 800-V DC architectures in AI data centres as a turning point for the power semiconductor market. Until now, he said, the voltage limit of GaN had prevented its use in the main power path and favoured silicon carbide.
A voltage rating of 2200 V changes that situation. In Dagher’s view, it provides sufficient margin for single-stage topologies and helps future-proof 1500-V data-centre and electric vehicle architectures.
