Navitas Announces GaN Power Reference Design

150W AC-DC design delivers 21 W/in³ and over 95 percent efficiency

Navitas Semiconductor has launched an 150W AC-DC reference design using the company’s GaN power ICs. At over 21 W/in3 and at over 95 percent efficiency, the NVE021A is said to be more than two times smaller than typical commercial designs and 40 percent smaller than previous best-in-class today.

The design can be adapted over a power range of 85-500W to enable a new class of converters to address ultra-thin LED TVs, fast-charging laptop adapters, high-density gaming systems, all-in-one PCs and any other systems seeking high-density or high efficiency power solutions.

Navitas GaN Power ICs enable high-frequency switching to shrink passive components. Soft-switching critical-conduction mode (CrCM) PFC and LLC DC-DC stages operate at working frequencies up to 300 kHz (600 kHz during start-up, burst mode)  –  the fastest-possible speed provided by off-the-shelf controller ICs available today.

The NVE021A reference design (150W, AC to 12V DC) is available direct from Navitas at a price of $465 each, which includes a user guide / test report with all schematic and layout design files, plus bill of material.

“Navitas GaN Power ICs enable breakthrough adapter performance in small size and high efficiency with simple, practical and economical designs”, explained Stephen Oliver, the company’s VP of Sales & Marketing.

“Silicon-based designs are slow, bulky and heavy. This reference design is the first in a series that will demonstrate how new GaN power ICs can increase frequencies five times or more with efficiencies of 95 percent, enabling a three to five times increase in power densities for a broad range of AC-DC applications”.