
Co-packaged GaN HEMT and gate driver slashes board footprint
Rohm has developed power stage ICs with a co-packaged 650V GaN HEMT transistors and gate driver.
The Rohm BM3G0xxMUV-LB series GaN devices are aimed at primary power supplies inside industrial and consumer applications such as data servers and AC adapters, cutting component volume by 99% and power loss by 55% when replacing silicon MOSFETs.
Controlling the gate of a HEMT GaN transistor requires a more sophisticated gate driver, so Rohm developed power stage chips that integrate the HEMT and gate driver into a single package.
- Rohm starts mass producing 650V HEMT transistors
- Rohm, Delta team for next generation GaN in power supplies
- Rohm teams for second sourcing and R&D
The company also took the opportunity to add functions and peripheral components designed to maximize the performance of the 650V HEMTs to the BM3G015MUV-LB with an on resistance of 150mO and the BM3G007MUV-LB at 70mO. The wide drive voltage range of 2.5V to 30V, short propagation delay and fast startup time enables compatibility with almost any controller IC in primary power supplies to replace silicon Super Junction MOSFETs.
This is where the 99% reduction in component area figure comes from as the higher efficiency of using GaN avoids the need for a cooling fin.
“GaN devices are attracting a great deal of attention in the industries as a device that greatly contributes to the miniaturization and energy saving of equipment,” said Isaac Lin, general manager of the PSADC (Power Semiconductor Applications Development Center) at power supply maker Delta Electronics. “Rohm’s new products have realized high speed and safe gate drive by using Rohm’s original analog technology. These products will further promote the use of GaN power devices, which are expected to grow.”

Rohm EcoGaN evaluation boards
There are three ecoGaN evaluation boards, with the BM3G007MUV-EVK-002 for a 240W design with power factor correction (PFC) as well as the BM3G007MUV-EVK-003 and BM3G015MUV-EVK-003.
Products and evaluation boards will be offered at online distributors Digikey, Mouser and Farnell as they become available.
