EPC launches high-efficiency half-bridge development board operating up to 10MHz for point-of-load DC-DC conversion

Efficient Power Conversion Corp (EPC) of El Segundo, CA, USA – which makes enhancement-mode gallium nitride on silicon (eGaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) for power management applications – has made available the EPC9086 development board, a high-efficiency half-bridge development board that can operate up to 10MHz.

The EPC9086 board measures 2” x 2” and contains a 30V, 15A EPC2111 eGaN half bridge in combination with the recently introduced PE29102 high-speed gate driver from Peregrine Semiconductor Corp of San Diego, CA, USA, a fabless provider of radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI).

The purpose of the development board is to reduce time to market by simplifying the evaluation process of the EPC2111 eGaN by including all the critical components, such as Peregrine’s PE29102 high-speed gate driver, on a single board that can be easily connected into any existing converter. “The PE29102 is an integrated high-speed driver specifically designed to control the gates of high-switching-speed external power devices, such as eGaN FETs,” says Mark Moffat, director of Peregrine’s power management product line.

The outputs of this driver can provide switching transition speeds in the sub-nanosecond range with optimized matched dead time. It offers what is claimed to be best-in-class propagation delay for hard switching applications up to 40MHz, enabling the high performance of GaN power transistors. The PE29102 provides minimum pulse widths of 5ns and is offered as a 2mm x 1.6mm flip-chip die, enabling a small-form-factor power stage for high-duty-cycle power conversion at high frequency.

The board may be used for applications where high frequency can enable a significant size and height reduction, such as in notebook and tablet computing.

The EPC9086 has been evaluated in a 12V to point-of-load DC-DC converter application and achieved efficiency levels of 86% at 10A when switching at 5MHz and over 80% when switching at 10MHz.

The EPC9086 half-bridge development boards are priced at $118.75 each, available for immediate delivery via Digi-Key.