Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced today that it has completed the installation of, and begun testing, railcar traction converter/inverter systems with all-silicon carbide (SiC) power modules on N700 Shinkansen bullet trains for Central Japan Railway Company (JR-Central). These are the first 3.3kV, 1500A traction systems to be installed on a high-speed train line, according to the company’s own research.

Mitsubishi Electric has been working to downsize its traction system for Shinkansen bullet trains. The use of SiC power modules reduces the size and weight of its new converter/inverter system by approximately 55% and 35%, respectively, compared to existing systems. The weight of the traction motor, including this system, is reduced by approximately 15%.

The power modules were developed with support from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan.

Specifications of Main Circuit

Input voltage:	2,500V AC
Main circuit system:	Large-capacity all-SiC power modules Three-level PWM inverter with regenerative brakes
Control system:	Four traction motors with 305kW, parallel control
Cooling system:	Self-cooling

Exagan, a start-up innovator of gallium-nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology, today announced it has raised €5.7 million in first-round financing that will be used to produce power switching devices on 200mm wafers.

The investors include leading French venture founds as:

• Technocom2, managed by Innovacom, a French venture capital firm
• CM-CIC Innovation, the investment arm of the European bank group, Crédit Mutuel-CIC Group
• IRDInov, a regional seed investor in emerging companies
• CEA investissement, a manager of funds invested in technology companies, and which invested via the CEA strategic fund.
• Soitec, the Silicon on Insulator manufacturing process inventor and leader

Following Exagan’s recent announcement of an agreement with X-FAB to produce devices on 200mm wafers, the financing will help support its growth to become worldwide recognized GaN manufacturer. They developped the Exagan’s G-FET^TM 650 V platform.

Exagan, based in Grenoble with a branch office in Toulouse, was spun off by Leti and Soitec in 2014 and licenses materials and technology from both organizations.

GaN, a highly competitive market:

ExaGaN is competing with other players are on the Gallium nitride main manufacturers map released by Point The Power.

This news comes right after Transphorm Inc raising $70M for the same objective. Leaders in the Gallium Nitride field are Transphorm, but also EPC Corp. created by Alex Lidow, former CEO of International Rectifier. Some other start-up companies may be ready to release products and enter in competition with Exagan: Powdec (Japan), Cambridge electronics (USA), Avogy (USA), BeMiTec (Germany)…

These companies will be facing Panasonic and Infineon. The two heavy weight power electronics players have entered into a co-manufacturing agreement. Infineon becoming a second source manufacturer for Panasonic GaN-on-Silicon GIT (Gate Injection Transistor).

The GaN market is definitely entering into a real battle: A race to the first widely available devices to get a leading market position.

Download our GaN Market knowledge update presentation to know more…

 

Fairchild, today announced that Power Integrations, Inc. was found to infringe Fairchild’s U.S. Patent No. 7,259,972 by continuing to market and sell its LinkSwitch II family of products, even after a 2012 jury found those same power conversion chips violated the patent.

A jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware on Friday found that Power Integrations induced customers to infringe Fairchild’s patent rights, and awarded Fairchild $2.4 million in damages. This damages figure reflects an approximately 1.5-cent per unit royalty on LinkSwitch II parts imported into the United States.

“Fairchild is gratified that the jury found in our favor,” said Mark Thompson, Fairchild president and CEO.

“PI was found to infringe this patent in 2012, and did nothing to change their sales or marketing practices.  We brought suit to protect our intellectual property from this continuing infringement and we hope this will bring an end to PI’s inducing activities.”

The same jury found that Fairchild did not infringe one of two Power Integrations patents asserted in response to Fairchild’s claims.  PI was forced to withdraw a third patent from the case during trial.  Prior to the trial, the Court granted Fairchild summary judgment of no infringement on a fourth patent and PI voluntarily withdrew a fifth patent.  The jury also found Fairchild infringed two claims of one Power Integrations patent, and awarded PI damages of $100,000.

Fairchild and Power Integrations have been engaged in patent litigation since 2004.  “While we are pleased with this most recent verdict, it remains our goal to achieve a non-litigious resolution to this long-running dispute,” said Thompson.

To learn more, please visit the Fairchild website at: http://www.fairchild.com.

EPC announces theEPC2104, 100 V enhancement-mode monolithic GaN transistor half bridge. By integrating two eGaN^® power FETs into a single device, interconnect inductances and the interstitial space needed on the PCB are eliminated, resulting in a 50% reduction in board area occupied by the transistors. This increases both efficiency (especially at higher frequencies) and power density, while reducing assembly costs to the end user’s power conversion system.

The EPC2104 comes in a chip-scale package for improved switching speed and thermal performance, and is only 6.05 mm x 2.3 mm for increased power density. The EPC2104 is ideal for high frequency DC-DC conversion and motor drive applications.

Development Board

The EPC9040 is 2” x 2” and contains one EPC2104 integrated half-bridge component using the Texas Instruments LM5113 gate driver, supply and bypass capacitors. The board has been laid out for optimal switching performance and there are various probe points to facilitate simple waveform measurement and efficiency calculation.

Price and Availability

The EPC2104 monolithic half-bridge price for 1K units is $8,31 each

The EPC9040 development boards are priced at $137.75 each

Both are available for immediate delivery from Digi-Key at http://www.digikey.com/Suppliers/us/Efficient-Power-Conversion.page?lang=en

Design Information and Support for eGaN FETs:

• Download datasheets at http://epc-co.com/epc/Products/eGaNFETs.aspx
• Download Demo Board design files: http://epc-co.com/epc/Products/DemoBoards.aspx

Infineon Technologies AG  has launched a new family of CoolMOS™ C7 series superjunction (SJ) MOSFETs. The 600 V series offers a 50 percent reduction in turn-off losses compared to the CoolMOS™ CP, offering a GaN-like level of performance in PFC, TTF and other hard-switching topologies. The CoolMOS C7 achieves an industry first by delivering an area-specific on resistance (R _DS(ON)*A) of just 1 Ω per mm ², extending Infineon’s portfolio of products with lowest R _DS(ON)per package to support customer efforts to further increase power density. The new CoolMOS series features ultra-low switching losses and targets high power SMPS applications such as server, telecom, solar and industrial applications requiring high efficiency, a reduced Bill of Materials (BoM) and total cost of ownership (TCO).

Efficiency and TCO driven applications such as hyperscale data centers and telecom base stations benefit from the switching loss reduction offered by the CoolMOS C7. Efficiency gains of 0.3 percent to 0.7 percent in PFC and 0.1 percent in LLC topologies can be achieved, leading to significant total cost of ownership benefits. In the case of a 2.5 kW server PSU, for example, using C7 600 V MOSFETs can result in energy cost reductions of around 10 percent for PSU energy loss.

In BoM and cost driven designs such as enterprise servers, the CoolMOS C7 600 V devices offer a cost reduction in magnetics. Due to the significantly lower gate charge and output capacitance, the C7 can be operated at two times higher switching frequencies with only a marginal penalty in efficiency. This enables the size of magnetic components to be minimized, lowering the overall BoM cost. For example, doubling the switching frequency from 65 kHz to 130 kHz may reduce magnetic component cost by as much as 30 percent.

The CoolMOS C7 600 V family will be manufactured in two 300 mm fabs ensuring security of supply for customers. The family comes in a broad range of R _DS(ON) values and packages, with innovative options such as the TO-247 4-pin package available immediately at time of launch. The fourth pin boosts efficiency in full load by up to 0.4 percent by eliminating voltage drops across the source inductance caused by fast transients.

“As part of Infineon’s high-voltage MOSFET portfolio, the new CoolMOS C7 600V family is a major ‘stepping stone’ to Infineon’s upcoming GaN devices which are expected to launch in early 2016”, stated Peter Wawer, Vice President and General Manager of Businessline AC/DC at Infineon. “The CoolMOS C7 devices deliver lowest losses and higher frequencies up to 200 kHz in an established and proven technology being available in high volume, while Infineon’s GaN technology will further increase the frequency range and enable new topologies.”

Infineon´s complementary new 2EDN7524 EiceDRIVER™ ICs in industry standard pin-out feature two independent, non-isolated low-side gate drivers each capable of providing a 5 A source and sink peak current. Both channels operate with typical rise and fall times of just 5 ns, while the excellent 1 ns channel-to-channel delay matching allows configuration of simultaneous switching to double the total drive current. Despite the high current, the output stages offer a very low R _DS(ON), minimizing power dissipation in the driver even if a very small or no external gate resistor is used. Exceptional robustness against ground bounce for system reliability is ensured through the ability of the driver ICs to handle up to -10 V _DC at the control and enable inputs.

Availability

CoolMOS C7 600 V MOSFETs will initially be available in TO-220, TO-247 and TO-247 4-pin packages with maximum R _DS(ON) ratings from 40 mΩ to 180 mΩ. Samples for TO-220 FP, DPAK, D ²PAK, ThinPAK and the complete portfolio of R _DS(ON) values will be available in Q3 2015. Volume production of the 2EDN7524 MOSFET drivers in a DSO-8 package will begin in August 2015. Further package and functionality options will become available in Q4 2015. Further information on the CoolMOS C7 600 V is available at www.infineon.com/C7-600V. Further information on 2EDN7524 MOSFET drivers is available at www.infineon.com/2EDN.

Infineon at the PCIM 2015

Infineon will be presenting the CoolMOS C7 600 V and the 2EDN7524 MOSFET drivers, as well as other innovative system oriented solutions, at booth 412 in hall 9 at the PCIM trade show in Nuremberg from May 19 to 21, 2015. Further information on trade fair highlights is available at: www.infineon.com/PCIM

Cree, Inc. today announced that Cree’s wholly owned Power and RF subsidiary has submitted a draft registration statement on a confidential basis to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a potential initial public offering of the subsidiary’s Class A common stock.

The type and number of shares of stock to be sold and the price range for the proposed initial public offering has not yet been determined, although Cree intends to remain the majority stockholder of the subsidiary post offering. The initial public offering is expected to commence after the Securities and Exchange Commission completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions. The Power and RF subsidiary is raising capital to invest directly in the business to support targeted future growth.

The offering would enable Cree management to focus on Cree’s LED and Lighting businesses, while also creating a dedicated focus on the Power and RF business. The company believes that this transaction should allow Cree shareholders to better realize the full value of both businesses.

This announcement is being made pursuant to and in accordance with Rule 135 under the Securities Act of 1933. As required by Rule 135, this press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation, or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction.