What is GaN?

Gallium Nitride (GaN) is a leading-edge material that's revolutionizing the way we power our daily lives. With its unique properties, GaN enables the creation of smaller, faster, and more efficient power systems that can operate with high voltages and temperatures. This means that electric vehicles can charge faster and travel farther, renewable energy systems like solar microinverters can convert energy more efficiently, and AI data centers require less energy. Additionally, GaN is also being used to create smaller and faster chargers for our smartphones and laptops, such as USB-C chargers that can charge devices up to 3 times faster than traditional chargers. In simple terms, GaN is helping to make our technology more powerful, more efficient, and more sustainable, which can lead to cost savings, reduced environmental impact, and a more reliable supply of power.

What are the key values of GaN?

GaN plays a vital role in solving the contradiction between rising energy demand and a net-zero economy. It masters the needs for more power, higher efficiency, and reduced size across a wide range of industries and applications, including smartphone adapters, solar microinverters, electric vehicles, AI data centers, or robots.

Discover how our CoolGaN™ power semiconductors turn industry buzz into actionable insights, with real-world examples that deliver concrete facts, figures, and benefits to inform and inspire your next design innovation.

Gain more insights into each application, and see how GaN is delivering to the demands for more power, higher efficiency, and size reduction. 

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Infineon pioneers world’s first 300 mm power gallium nitride (GaN) wafer

Building on our technology leadership, we at Infineon were the first semiconductor manufacturer to successfully develop 300-millimeter GaN power wafer technology. Chip production on 300-millimeter wafers is technically more advanced and significantly more efficient compared to established 200-millimeter wafers, as the larger wafer diameter allows 2.3 times more chips to be produced per wafer. Our fully scaled-up 300-millimeter GaN manufacturing will allow us to deliver highest value to our customers even faster while moving towards cost parity for comparable silicon and GaN products. 

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Your trusted GaN partner: delivering innovative solutions, economic value, high reliability and application expertise

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Customer success stories

Examples for the broad customer base for Infineon GaN

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FAQ

FAQ

It enables higher efficiency and faster switching speeds.

It supports bidirectional switching.

They exhibit extremely low switching losses.

GaN technology is revolutionizing power electronics by enabling higher efficiency, compact designs, and faster switching speeds. With its wide bandgap (3.4 eV) and high electron mobility, GaN outperforms traditional silicon-based power devices. It allows for higher switching frequencies, reducing the size of passive components, leading to smaller and more power-dense solutions. In applications like data centers, electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy systems, GaN significantly reduces power losses, enhances thermal performance, and contributes to overall energy efficiency. As manufacturing techniques improve, GaN adoption is expected to grow, further driving innovation in next-generation power applications.  

While GaN offers numerous benefits, its widespread adoption faces challenges, including: 

  • Manufacturing complexity: GaN requires specialized fabrication techniques 
  • Cost: GaN devices are initially more expensive than traditional silicon components
  • Integration with existing systems: Transitioning from silicon to GaN requires new design approaches 
  • Reliability concerns: Long-term durability and failure modes need further study

Infineon’s Approach:

  • Dedicated GaN Business Line to drive innovation and cost reduction 
  • Advanced packaging solutions that improve thermal management and reliability 
  • Collaboration with industry leaders to accelerate adoption in consumer, automotive, and industrial markets 
  • Investments in large-scale manufacturing to make GaN more cost-competitive

It acts as a charge pump for fast-switching transients and negative gate bias.

Positioning devices and input filtering capacitors on the same layer.

To minimize gate loop inductance and optimize switching performance in CoolGaN™ HEMT layouts, the following recommendations should be followed: 

  • Position the gate driver close to the GaN device to reduce parasitic inductance 
  • Use a low-inductance PCB layout, placing the return path on the layer directly below the component layer 
  • Minimize the trace length between the driver and the GaN transistor 
  • Use a Kelvin connection for accurate gate control 
  • Employ symmetric layouts when paralleling GaN transistors to avoid mismatched inductance 

By following these techniques, designers can achieve faster switching, lower losses, and improved system efficiency.