Panasonic today announced the development of a Gallium Nitride (GaN) -based monolithic inverter integrated circuit (IC) for motor drive. The integrated six GaN-based transistors can be independently driven in a single chip, which enables successful motor drive with high efficiency. The new Panasonic GaN inverter IC is applicable to motor drive in a variety of consumer electronics. Successful motor drive is confirmed using the new GaN-based monolithic inverter IC. The conversion loss is effectively reduced by 42% from that by conventional Si-based IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) at the output power of 20W. The integration reduces the parasitic inductance so that the switching loss is effectively reduced. The inverter IC is the world first demonstration of a single chip GaN-based inverter IC for motor drive.

Panasonic's proprietary Gate Injection Transistors (GITs) are integrated into a single chip taking advantages of its lateral device configuration. Applications for 141 domestic and 90 overseas patents have been filed. These research and development results have been presented.