GaN-based 300V-in, 5A-out Half-Bridge Development Board with Digital Isolation
The EPC9084 development board from Efficient Power Conversion is a 350V maximum device voltage, 5A maximum output current, half-bridge with onboard gate drives, featuring two EPC2050 enhancement mode (eGaN®) FETs (announced earlier this week). The purpose of this development board is to simplify the evaluation process of the EPC2050 eGaN FETs by including all the critical components on a single board that can be easily connected into any existing converter.
The EPC9084 development board is 1.5" x 2" and contains two EPC2050 eGaN FETs in a half-bridge configuration. As supplied, the high-side gate drive uses a digital isolator and both FETs use the Silicon Labs SI8274GB1-IM gate driver.
The board also contains all critical components and layout for optimal switching performance. There are also various probe points to facilitate simple waveform measurement and efficiency calculation, as well as the option to add trimmer resistors for adjustable deadtime to provide separate high- and low-side inputs, and an isolator for the low-side gate drive.
This board may be used for applications where high efficiency can enable a significant performance advantage as well as a size and weight reduction such as multi-level ac-dc power supplies, electric vehicle on-board charging, and solar power inverters.
The EPC9084 is intended for bench evaluation with typical room ambient temperature. The addition of heat-sinking and forced air cooling can significantly increase the current capability of these devices, but care must be taken to not exceed the absolute maximum die temperature of 150° C.
Using eGaN FETs is very similar to using modern power MOSFETs. However, due to the significantly better performance, there are additional design and test considerations to make certain devices are used efficiently and reliably
The EPC2050 eGaN FET is priced for 1K units at $3.19 each and the EPC9084 development board is priced at $118.75 each. Both products are available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key
