IISc team develops fully indigenous gallium nitride power switch
Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a fully indigenous gallium nitride (GaN) power switch that has potential application in systems such as power converters for electric vehicles (EVs) and laptops, as well as in wireless communications.
The entire process of building the switch—from material growth to device fabrication to packaging—took place inhouse, at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), IISc said in a press statement.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Digital Marketing and AnalyticsVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Digital TransformationVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Professional Certificate in Product ManagementVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitDue to their high performance and efficiency, GaN transistors are poised to replace traditional silicon-based transistors as the building blocks in many electronic devices, such as ultrafast chargers for electric vehicles, phones and laptops, as well as space and military applications such as radar, the statement added.
“It is a very promising and disruptive technology,” said Digbijoy Nath, Associate Professor at CeNSE, and corresponding author of the study published in Microelectronic Engineering. “But the material and devices are heavily import-restricted … We don’t have gallium nitride wafer production capability at commercial scale in India yet.” The knowhow of manufacturing these devices is also a heavily-guarded secret, with few studies published on the details of the processes involved, he added.
The statement said power switches are used to control the flow of power to electronic devices—essentially to turn them on or off. To
