The Power Electronics Market and the Status of GaN Based Power Devices

Focusing on the application range between 20 and 1200 V, a survey is presented of the power electronic marketplace including the principle power device structures and IC technologies as well as circuit topologies used in the major applications. The relation between power device performance and system level capabilities are discussed. Recent results obtained using the commercial GaN- on-Si based HEMT development platform at International Rectifier, known as GaNpowIR®, will be presented.