onsemi unveils vertical GaN power semiconductors

As global energy demand surges from AI data centers, electric vehicles, and other energy intensive applications, US semiconductor supplier company onsemi has introduced vertical gallium nitride (vGaN) power semiconductors, to boost power density, efficiency and ruggedness for these applications. 

These next-generation GaN-on-GaN power semiconductors conduct current vertically through the compound semiconductor, enabling higher operating voltages and faster switching frequencies, leading to energy savings to deliver smaller and lighter systems across AI data centers, electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy, and aerospace, defence and security, according to a media release.

“As electrification and AI reshape industries, efficiency has become the new benchmark that defines the measure of progress,” said Dinesh Ramanathan, Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, onsemi. “The addition of vertical GaN to our power portfolio gives our customers the ultimate toolkit to deliver unmatched performance. With this breakthrough, onsemi is defining the future where energy efficiency and power density are the currency of competitiveness.” 

onsemi’s vGaN technology is designed to handle high voltages in a monolithic die — 1,200 volts and beyond — switching high currents at high frequency with superior efficiency. High end power systems built with this technology can reduce losses by almost 50% and by operating at higher frequencies can also reduce the size, including passives like capacitors and inductors by a similar amount. 

Additionally, compared to commercially available lateral GaN, vGaN devices are approximately three times smaller. This makes onsemi’s vGaN ideal for critical high-power applications where power density, thermal performance and reliability are paramount, the media release said.