Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Texas Instruments expands into high-performance gallium nitride chip market
Jerome Shin, major accounts field application engineer manager of Texas Instruments Korea, speaks during a press conference held at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas hotel in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Texas Instruments Korea
By Baek Byung-yeul
Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced new gallium nitride-based (GaN) power semiconductor products with higher power density and improved power-converter efficiency compared to silicon-based products, aiming to lead the automotive and industrial power management semiconductor industry, the Korean unit of the U.S. chip company said Tuesday.
Recently, engineers have faced the challenge of supplying more power in a smaller space, from data centers requiring more storage to space-constrained battery systems of electric vehicles (EV). To address this, TI introduced two new power converter devices that support higher power density at lower cost.
The company said that its new GaN power products, LMG2100R044 and LMG3100R017, apply enhanced thermal management with double-sided cooling package technology to simplify thermal design and boost power density.
"Energy density in almost all applications has been improving much faster than before, requiring smaller and more efficient power supply devices,” Jerome Shin, major accounts field application engineer manager of TI Korea, said during a press conference in Seoul.
"TI's thermally enhanced double-sided cooling package enables more efficient heat removal from both sides of the device and provides improved thermal resistance compared to other companies’ integrated GaN devices," Shin said.
Shin said there was a perception that GaN-based chips cost more than silicon carbide (SiC)-based chips, another next-generation semiconductor material, but as of 2022, the prices have reversed and GaN chips are now cheaper.
TI also unveiled a new 1.5-watt isolated DC/DC power module for automotive and industrial systems. Anthony Ahn, automotive field application engineer manager of TI Korea, said this module will enable engineers to reduce the overall module size by over 89 percent and its height by up to 75 percent.