A half century ago, better transistors revolutionized computer power supplies

Re:A half century ago, better transistors revolutionized com... by hristov on Sunday February 09, 2020 @04:36PM (#22284478)

Currently there is a new wave of better transistor technology, that should hopefully make our power supplies better. For example, Gallium Nitride transistors in combination with System in Package technology and spintronic isolators could and should revolutionize consumer power supplies again. Unfortunately, this area is not considered too sexy and does not get too much investment.

But hopefully, they do get around to it. I can't wait to get rid of the power bricks.

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Re:A half century ago, better transistors revolutionized com... by baybal2 on Sunday February 09, 2020 @05:31PM (#22284767)

> Unfortunately, this area is not considered too sexy and does not get too much investment.

You are getting it better than the rest of the world. Power electronics is once of the last semiconductor niche where US has both the edge in already, and a prospect for future growth.

You have to thank your military for that. Military use power electronics is a giant market in USA, but it's also a very pathological one. US military buys simplest bucks and boost circuits (for non-engineers, those things amount to "power electronics 101") for few thousand dollars a pop.

Few months ago, I had a chat with BYD engineers about their own power electronics problem. The best China got domestically are few generations old IGBTs. E6 for example has a 89% efficient powertrain, as I was told. The only Chinese power electronics company on the road to SiC I know is IVCT, and I haven't seen them showing any life signs for quite some time.

They want to eventually do their own power electronics, or at least fully own it from the packaging/integration stage.

You can see how far Tesla went in Model S to Model 3 inverter design when they switched to SiC switches. Model 3's inverter is microscopic in comparison to Model S ones. And apparently, it's also more efficient at the same time, without any extra tricks used.

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Re:A half century ago, better transistors revolutionized com... by lisk1 on Monday February 10, 2020 @01:19AM (#22286823)

Probably the thing you dont know about Model 3 motor inverter is that its designed by a Dutch company and uses ST Microelectronics power mosfets manufactured in fab in Italy , Tesla is also considering second supplier for power mosfets, Infinion technology again European based electronics components manufacturing company.

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Re:A half century ago, better transistors revolutionized com... by baybal2 on Monday February 10, 2020 @05:03AM (#22287765)

Didn't know that. So they are saying bye to AC Propulsion people?

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Re:A half century ago, better transistors revolutionized com... by kragen on Sunday February 09, 2020 @05:11PM (#22284675)

Ken mentioned GaN in the article.

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Re:A half century ago, better transistors revolutionized com... by agumonkey on Sunday February 09, 2020 @07:36PM (#22285442)

GaN are somehow trendy. People won't probably get the gist of it but it's not a silent revolution (marketers efforts :)

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Re:A half century ago, better transistors revolutionized com... by latchkey on Sunday February 09, 2020 @08:49PM (#22285751)

For those of us who travel a lot, GaN is fantastic! They are inexpensive, tiny and light weight. I got a $35 61w usbc adapter and it has no problems keeping up on my macbook pro 15" and is a fraction of the weight/size as the apple brick.

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