Renesas Electronics Corp. has introduced its 4th generation plus (Gen IV Plus) platform with the launch of three new high-voltage 650-V GaN FETs for AI data centers and server power supply systems including the new 800-V HVDC architecture. Other applications include E-mobility charging, UPS battery backup devices, battery energy storage, and solar inverters.
These new GaN devices are designed for multi-kilowatt-class applications, combining high-efficiency GaN technology with a silicon-compatible gate drive input, reducing switching power loss while retaining the operating simplicity of silicon FETs.
The rollout of the Gen IV Plus GaN devices is the first major product milestone since Renesas’ acquisition of Transphorm, Inc. in 2024, said Primit Parikh, vice president of the GaN Business Division at Renesas. He was president, CEO, and a co-founder of Transphorm, which specialized in high performance and high reliability GaN semiconductors for high-voltage power conversion applications.
Primit Parikh, Renesas Electronics Corp.
During a presentation on Renesas’ AI microcontroller portfolio and GaN products, Parikh said Renesas is doubling down on GaN and MOSFETs where the company sees healthy sustained demand to enable higher power density and higher efficiency designs. At the same time, Renesas made the decision to temporarily suspend development of silicon carbide (SiC) and IGBTs.
“This pivot allows us to capitalize on key areas like data centers, power, and infrastructure growth, and develop a very strong road map of ICs and solutions that go hand in hand with our GAN switches,” Parikh said. “GaN is targeted to be double-digit CAGR [compound annual growth rate] by most market estimates today and eventually will replace a lot of the new applications happening with silicon and SiC power devices.”
As part of its GaN growth strategy, Renesas is expanding its 650-V high-voltage GaN portfolio, which includes the new 650-V GaN FETs, as well as adding new 40-V to 200-V low-voltage GaN that will ramp in 2026. It also will focus on developing dedicated controllers, drivers, and power stages optimized for GaN. The company plans to scale to 8-inch wafers with the recently announced partnership with a U.S. foundry.
Gen IV Plus 650-V GaN FETs
The Gen IV Plus platform offers several improvements over the previous Gen IV generation. These include improvements in on-resistance and figure of merit (FOM) as well as delivering a smaller die size, lower loss, higher efficiency, and lower cost.
“The newly introduced Gen IV Plus platform builds on our SuperGaN brand offering, lowering on-resistance, improving figure of merit, and offering a smaller die size, easy-to-use standard drivers, and multiple high-power packaging options for the user,” Parikh said.
The devices are built on a die that is 14 percent smaller than the previous Gen IV platform, which reduces system cost and lowers the output capacitance, translating into higher efficiency and power density. They achieve a lower RDS(on) of 30 milliohms (mΩ) versus 35 mΩ, reducing on-resistance by 14 percent and deliver a 20 percent improvement in on-resistance output-capacitance-product FOM.
Renesas improved the switching FOM by up to 50 percent Parikh said. The Ron × Qg is up by 50 percent and the Ron × Qoss is improved by more than 20 percent, he added.
(Source: Renesas Electronics Corp.)
The new 650-V TP65H030G4PRS, TP65H030G4PWS and TP65H030G4PQS GaN FETs are built on the SuperGaN platform, based on the depletion mode (D-mode) normally-off architecture pioneered by Transphorm. The devices, leveraging the low-loss D-mode technology, offer higher efficiency over silicon, SiC, and other GaN offerings, according to Renesas.
These D-mode GaN products use an integrated low-voltage silicon MOSFET, a unique configuration that achieves seamless normally-off operation while leveraging the low loss, high efficiency switching benefits of the high-voltage GaN. Since they use silicon FETs for the input stage, the SuperGaN FETs are easy to drive with standard gate drivers rather than specialized drivers that are normally required for E-mode GaN, according to Rarikh.
Integrating a low-voltage silicon FET provides a very robust interface along with compatibility with standard drivers, he added. “This compatibility simplifies design and lowers the barrier to GaN adaptation for system developers.”
The Renesas D-mode GaN devices have a lower dynamic RDSon compared to the competition, which is key for lower losses, and it also enables the use of smaller die for the same power level and achieves higher efficiencies, Rarikh said.
In addition, the GaN FETs minimize power loss with lower gate charge, output capacitance, crossover loss, and dynamic resistance impact, with a higher 4-V threshold voltage, which is not achievable with today’s enhancement mode (E-mode) GaN devices, according to Renesas.
The devices are available in TOLT, TO-247, and TOLL package options to accommodate thermal performance and layout optimization for power systems ranging from 1 kW to 10 kW, and even higher with paralleling. The commonly used TO-247 package provides higher thermal capability to achieve higher power.
In addition, the new surface-mount packages include bottom side (TOLL) and top-side (TOLT) thermal conduction paths for cooler case temperatures. This allows for easier device paralleling when higher conduction currents are needed.
Renesas offers both high- and low-power GaN FETs. Compared to SiC and silicon-based semiconductor switching devices, they provide higher efficiency and switching frequency and smaller footprints. They can be used in a range of applications, including electric vehicles, inverters, AI data center servers, renewable energy, and industrial power conversion.
“GaN does the job of power conversion with the highest efficiency and lowest losses, much better than traditional silicon and also better than silicon carbide,” Rarikh said. “GaN enables more efficient and compact power conversion across the gamut of applications ranging from infrastructure and computing to industrial, energy, e-mobility, automotive, and high value IoT applications where speed, efficiency, form factor, and system cost are all pain points.”
The TP65H030G4PRS, TP65H030G4PWS, and TP65H030G4PQS are available now in TOLT, TO-247, and TOLL package options. Also available is a 4.2-kW Totem-pole PFC GaN Evaluation Platform (RTDTTP4200W066A-KIT). Future Gen IV Plus GaN devices will combine the SuperGaN technology with Renesas’ drivers and controllers to offer complete power solutions.
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