EPC moves 100V GaN stages into volume production

Efficient Power Conversion has moved four 100V integrated gallium-nitride power stages into volume production for motor drives, robotics, drones, medical equipment, synchronous rectification, and compact DC-DC conversion. The EPC23108, EPC23109, EPC23110, and EPC23111 combine power transistors and supporting drive circuitry in thermally enhanced QFN packages.

The monolithic devices integrate high-side and low-side enhancement-mode GaN FETs with gate drivers and level-shifting circuitry. EPC specifies current ratings of 35A and 20A across the family, together with fast fault shutdown, controlled gate behaviour during power loss, continuous operation at 100% duty cycle, and single-input PWM options for multi-axis motor control.

Integration addresses one of the more sensitive parts of fast GaN design. Discrete GaN transistors can switch quickly enough for PCB inductance, gate-loop geometry, driver placement, and voltage overshoot to become significant elements of the circuit. Putting the FETs and their drivers into one package shortens critical connections and gives the supplier tighter control over parasitic behaviour.

That does not remove the surrounding engineering work. Power-loop inductance, decoupling, current sensing, thermal paths, electromagnetic compatibility, dead time, and control stability still have to be handled on the board. GaN’s switching speed can expose poor layout more readily than slower devices because unwanted inductance can generate ringing and transient stress during rapid switching edges.

The new parts are aimed particularly at compact brushless motor drives. Humanoid robots, drones, and other battery-powered machines may contain many motors operating from common DC rails, so losses and board area accumulate across axes. Reducing the component count around each half bridge can therefore affect wiring, cooling, assembly, and serviceability at system level rather than simply shrinking one converter stage.

EPC is supporting the family with four three-phase BLDC evaluation boards: EPC91128, EPC91129, EPC91130, and EPC91131. These combine the new power stages with current and voltage sensing, housekeeping supplies, temperature monitoring, and protection, giving engineers a defined platform on which to measure efficiency, temperature, switching behaviour, and motor-control performance before producing an application-specific layout.

The production announcement follows the company’s recent move to put its 18V EPC2370 Gen7 GaN transistor into volume production. The two launches address different parts of the power architecture: EPC2370 is a discrete, very-low-voltage, high-current device aimed at AI server conversion, while the 100V family packages complete switching stages for motor and broader power-control applications.

That distinction matters because GaN is not replacing silicon through one universal device class. Low-voltage converter stages prioritise conduction resistance and very high current, motor drives add control and fault-handling requirements, and higher-voltage systems face different transient, isolation, and packaging constraints. Integration is most useful where the surrounding circuitry can be standardised without removing too much flexibility from the designer.

Commercial availability makes the new family more relevant than a technology demonstration. EPC lists the devices through DigiKey and Mouser, with EPC23108 and EPC23109 priced at US$3.70 each in quantities of 3,000 and EPC23110 and EPC23111 at US$2.47. The associated evaluation boards are also available, allowing engineers to test the devices against real thermal, EMI, and control constraints.

Volume production does not guarantee that integrated GaN will displace discrete MOSFET or GaN stages across every motor application. Cost, switching frequency, thermal design, qualification, sourcing, fault behaviour, and software compatibility remain application-specific. The engineering proposition is narrower: where fast switching is useful but the transistor-driver interface is a source of layout risk, an integrated stage can move part of that problem inside a characterised package.

For multi-axis robotics and compact motion systems, that can shift development effort towards motor control, sensing, power distribution, and thermal management. The useful test will be whether the integrated devices preserve GaN’s efficiency and density advantages once they are placed in real systems with cables, motors, batteries, and compliance limits rather than on a clean evaluation bench.