The new GaN power IC package provides enhanced thermal performance

     Cambridge GaN Devices (CGD), a company dedicated to developing energy-efficient GaN power devices that make green electronics possible, has announced two new packages for its ICeGaN family of GaN Power ics that offer enhanced thermal performance and simplified inspection. These packages are extremely rugged, reliable, and a variation of the time-tested DFN style.

     The DHDFN-9-1(Dual Radiator DFN) developed for the company is a thin, double-sided cooling package with a small footprint, 10mm x 10mm, wet-flanking to simplify optical inspection. It has a low thermal resistance (Rth(JC)), can be used with bottom, top and double-sided cooling, is flexible in design, and is superior to commonly used TOLT packages in top, especially double-sided cooling configurations. The dual gate pin design of the DHDFN-9-1 package enables optimal PCB layout and simple parallel, enabling customers to easily address applications up to 6kW.

     The BHDFN-9-1(Bottom Radiator DFN) is a bottom side cooling package that also has wettable sides for easy inspection. Thermal resistance of 0.28K/W matches or exceeds other leading devices. At 10mm x 10mm, the BHDFN is smaller than the commonly used TOLL package but has a similar footprint, so it can be used in a common layout with the TOLL packaged GaN power ic for ease of use and evaluation.

     Nare Gabrielyan, Product Marketing Manager at CGD, said: "These new packages are part of our strategy to enable customers to use our ICeGaN GaN power ics at higher power levels. Servers, data centers, inverters/motor drives, micro-inverters and other industrial applications are all beginning to enjoy the power density and efficiency benefits of gallium nitride, but they are also more demanding. Therefore, for such applications, the equipment must also be robust and reliable, and easy to design. These properties are inherent to ICeGaN and are supported and extended by the new package."

     Improving heat resistance has several advantages. First, with the same RDS(on), more power output can be obtained. With the same amount of power, the device can also operate at lower temperatures, so less heat dissipation is required, thus reducing system costs. Lower operating temperatures also lead to higher reliability and longer service life. Finally, if cost is the limit of the application, the designer can adopt a low-cost part with a higher RDS(on) and still get the power output required.