INTEGRATING GALLIUM NITRIDE(GAN)-ON-SILICON POWER COMPONENTS INTO CONVERTERS

With Exagan’s GaN-on-silicon technology,tomorrow’s electric power converters will be smaller, more efficient, and less expensive.

Technology

In the race towards increasingly smaller product form factors, power converter manufacturers are forced to increase their products’ frequencies by several hundred kHz and, sometimes, MHz. Exagan plans to take full advantage of this trend with its GaN-on-silicon power components.
Exagan’s promise: converters that are three times smaller, 25% less expensive, and capable of reaching 99% efficiency. The technology will address the hybrid vehicle, solar energy, radar, mobile phone network, and other markets.
Launched in 2014, Exagan is the product of technology developed over a decadelong collaboration between Leti and Soitec and is protected by dozens of patents. The startup’s success is based on gallium nitrideon-silicon deposition using MOCVD paired with a manufacturing process compatible with silicon foundries.
An R&D contract with Leti has given Exagan the opportunity to produce its prototypes on Leti’s Grenoble-based 200 mm pilot line. It also uses equipment from the CEA Tech Midi-Pyrénées’ regional technology.