Renesas Unveils First 100V E-mode GaN Transistors for AI Data Centers

Renesas Electronics has announced its first low-voltage gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductor products, a 100V enhancement-mode (E-mode) discrete transistor family. The lineup includes four models: RTP100E005G1FL, RTP100E2P6G1FL, RTP100E1P8G1FL-DSC, and RTP100E1P2G1FL-DSC, targeting AI data centers, humanoid robots, factory automation, and industrial motor drives.

Compared with similar GaN devices, the new transistors reduce hard-switching figure of merit (FOM) by up to 35% and soft-switching FOM by up to 63%. They also improve efficiency by 1% to 3% over silicon-based designs, eliminate reverse recovery charge (Qrr) losses, and cut switching losses by 40% to 70%. The devices come in standard MOSFET-compatible packages, allowing designers to migrate from silicon MOSFET layouts without major PCB redesign.

GaN is a wide-bandgap semiconductor with a bandgap of approximately 3.4 eV, much higher than silicon's ~1.12 eV, and a critical electric field about 10 times higher. Renesas entered the GaN power device market after completing its acquisition of Transphorm in June 2024. Its previous GaN products were largely based on Transphorm's depletion-mode SuperGaN technology, making the new 100V family the company's first enhancement-mode GaN discretes and its first expansion into low-voltage GaN.