Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF
The smog pollution in urban areas and the finite fossil energy resources are leading to a rethink towards electric mobility. In the electrification of the drive system, 48V technology is seen as a trend-setting compromise between efficiency, volume, weight, cost and safety. It can save up to 15 % fuel and CO2 emissions compared to conventional technology. This requires compact and efficient power semiconductor modules capable of switching forward currents of several hundred amperes.
GaN technology enables the monolithic integration of entire circuit components, such as the half-bridge branches of a drive inverter, thus enabling even more compact chip solutions. In the GaNTraction project, this power density gain of the monolithic integration of a GaN half-bridge at component and module level is to be demonstrated for the first time. Novel fractal modules based on GaN will be developed. A new component concept and a fractally dimensioned line structure can reduce the volume of future drive inverters by a factor of 5.
