ORNL builds compact gallium nitride high-efficiency power converter

Oak Ridge National Laboratory built and validated a compact, lighter, high-efficiency power converter using gallium nitride semiconductors provided by ROHM Semiconductor, tested in the GRID-C testbed.

• Main announcement: ORNL researchers built and validated an electronic converter using gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors supplied by ROHM Semiconductor in the Grid Research Innovation and Development Center (GRID-C); the converter is smaller, lighter, more efficient, and intended to be more affordable to deliver, install and maintain.
• Background & details: The work was done at GRID-C (a constellation of labs and test beds) managed under UT-Battelle for the DOE Office of Science; researchers report GaN enables switching 10 to 20 times faster than silicon, and the design is targeted for artificial intelligence data center applications where many compact converters are needed.