Seasonic’s New High Efficiency 1.6 kW Platform for Broad Power Supply Portfolio Use Built With Transphorm GaN

Transphorm Inc.— the leader in the design and manufacturing of the highest reliability and first JEDEC- and AEC-Q101 qualified gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors—today announced that Seasonic Electronics Co. uses Transphorm’s high voltage (HV) GaN FETs in its new 1600 Watt (W) bridgeless totem-pole power factor correction (PFC) platform: the 1600T. The 1600T is the power supply manufacturer’s highest performing PFC platform to date at greater than 99 percent efficiency. Notably, the introduction of GaN delivers a two percent efficiency increase and 20 percent power density increase over Seasonic’s previous Silicon-based platform.

The 1600T platform will be scaled and deployed in various catalog products targeting the Charger (e-scooters, industrial, etc.), Gaming, Server, and PC power markets.

“When researching semiconductor technologies that would enable us to reach world-leading efficiency levels, gallium nitride stood out as an attractive alternative to Silicon,” said Paul Lin, Director of Research and Development, Seasonic. “We knew the bridgeless totem-pole PFC was the topology we would use in our first high voltage GaN power platform. So, we needed power semiconductors capable of successfully capitalizing on that topology. What’s more, we wanted a GaN solution that could be backed by our standard warranty. We ultimately opted for Transphorm’s FETs within the 1600T given their proven performance and reliability that allowed us to meet those requirements.”

Designing with Confidence: Transphorm Q+R

The 1600T platform employs Transphorm’s TP65H035WS device, a 650 V GaN FET with an R_DS(on) of 35 mΩ in a standard TO-247 package. The transistor achieves increased efficiency in hard-and soft-switched circuits, providing power systems engineers options when designing products. Further, the TP65H035WS pairs with commonly-used gate drivers to simplify designs while controlling costs.

Transphorm prioritizes quality and reliability (Q+R) when developing its GaN platforms and FETs. An outcrop of that prioritization is increased safety for designers; Transphorm GaN typically delivers greater headroom and noise immunity when compared to other available GaN FETs. The TP65H035WS’ typical gate threshold is 4 V with a maximum gate voltage of ±20 V.

Beyond the technology itself, Transphorm offers in-depth field application support and hands on training given GaN’s relative newness in high voltage applications. Seasonic leveraged the semiconductor company’s experts to strengthen the design itself while quickening time to market.

For example, guidance provided helped Seasonic’s team ramp on use of a simple, low-cost digital signal processor (DSP) to control the totem-pole PFC. Transphorm also aided in the platform’s component selection and system layout, ensuring optimal GaN performance. Ultimately, the co-development directly impacted Seasonic’s ability to drive up thermal efficiency while increasing power output—generating a HV GaN platform capable of delivering on Seasonic’s vision.

About Seasonic Electronics

Seasonic is a truly global company. Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, we export our products from our factory in China to our offices in the USA, Europe, Japan, as well as to other parts of the world. As a leader in innovation, our company’s main focus is to bring the latest technology at the best possible value to all our customers, who require cutting-edge features combined with market leading performance and total reliability. The strong competition in the IT industry gives us constant challenges, which strengthen our resolve to become and stay the best. Today, the Seasonic name is the equivalent of high performance, excellence and reliability. Our design and engineering team is passionate about creating new solutions that reply to the needs of our customers and connect to the latest market trends.

About Transphorm

Transphorm (transphormusa.com) designs, manufactures, and sells the highest performance, highest reliability GaN semiconductors for high-voltage power conversion applications. Holding one of the largest Power GaN IP portfolios (1000+ issued and pending patents worldwide), Transphorm produces the industry’s only JEDEC and AEC-Q101 qualified GaN FETs. This is due to a vertically-integrated business approach, which allows for innovation at every stage: materials and device design and manufacture, fabrication, packaging, reference circuit designs, and application support.

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