When we promote power density innovation to help engineers package more power supplies into smaller spaces, businesses and consumers will benefit from more efficient and lasting electronic devices and more reliable digital connections.
People expect electronic devices to work at any time and anywhere in need. These devices are powered around the clock - opening online meetings, playing people's favorite TV programs, and connecting people to each other.
Cecelia Smith, head of Ti boost and multichannel / polyphase DC / DC team, said: "our current environment is closely related to the accessibility between each other through technology. Imagine how much you rely on laptops and smartphones every day, as well as video conferencing applications implemented through cloud servers. These all require more efficient power transmission."
Even during the period when COVID-19 was generally converted to home office, nearly half of the workforce in the US was telecommuting 1 - the demand for digital services and efficient data retrieval and storage soared. The increasing market trends, including the electrification of vehicles, the online application of 5g and the growing demand for energy grid, have promoted the growth of the demand for data and power supply.
Higher power density - encapsulating more power supplies into a smaller space and improving efficiency - is the key to improving electronics, enhancing digital connectivity, improving the driving experience, etc.
How can we break the power limit by developing new processes, packaging and circuit design technologies.
Steve lambouses, head of TI's high voltage power supply team, said: "It's important to accomplish more tasks with less power because our demand for data and more connected devices will not slow down. Improving power density is a key issue in every market, such as the launch of 5g systems or the increasing popularity of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. People expect to see significant improvements in performance, such as data download speed or vehicle mileage per charge, But we don't want to see an increase in battery size or power consumption. At the same time, we also expect new technologies to be more reliable and lower cost. "
Semiconductor technology can improve our lives by making the power supply work smarter and adapt to smaller space in the following three ways:
More efficient system in the same space
Data centers that power Internet search, protect e-mail from viruses, and support video calls are growing to 50000 square feet and larger. The limited expandable space makes engineers face greater challenges.
Mark Gary, head of TI's analog power product team, said: "with the popularity of home office mode, the computing demand of enterprises is surging, which also increases the demand for additional cloud space. The data center needs more and more power, but the rack size in the server room has not changed. We must get more power in a smaller space."
At the same time, because the higher temperature will increase the operation cost, interfere with the network signal and lead to the premature failure of the device, heat dissipation becomes very important. After nearly a decade of continuous innovation on the same device - each improvement is based on the last improvement - the step-down switching regulator team launched the power chip. Engineers can stack them together to get more power while dispersing heat.
Mark said: "Since the launch of the first series of products in 2011, the power density within the same floor area has doubled. This is of great significance for the data center market and 5g base station market. We need to be able to provide more power for small wireless access points on street lights and poles, the backbone of 5g network, to achieve faster data transmission without increasing their size Lose. "
More efficient gallium nitride, more economical and practical electronic products
Imagine thousands of 5g radio access points on poles across the United States, each with a fan to cool the power that controls the neighborhood's Internet connection. Every time the fan stops working, the maintenance personnel must be mobilized to restore the connection and normal operation.
The main force of any power management system is an electrical switch that can quickly switch the power supply. The switching frequency of gallium nitride (GAN) is much higher than that of silicon, which not only improves the efficiency, but also reduces the total space required by the power supply, but also eliminates the need for fan cooling.
"Gallium nitride can achieve smaller, more efficient and more reliable electric vehicles, industrial systems, medical devices, consumer electronics, aerospace and defense systems with lower production costs. Customers can increase their power output by two to three times without increasing cost or size," Steve said
The reduction of space will have a chain reaction: less physical materials, devices and more solution integration will reduce costs. This will be further transformed into more economical, practical and efficient electronic products. At the same time, it will also have the opportunity to add more functions and improve the user experience.
"Many markets are driving demand for power density innovations such as gallium nitride technology. In the automotive sector, gallium nitride has the potential to realize smaller and smaller electronic products to reduce vehicle weight and cost, so as to help carmakers meet the demand for improving fuel economy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions," Mark said
Small chip, large scheme
The need to install more power into smaller spaces - such as medical devices, remote sensors, or test and measurement instruments - makes integrated components crucial.
For example, medical patient monitors need components that can protect personnel from dangerous voltages and reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI), a phenomenon in which signals from all electronic devices interfere with each other.
Nail sized chips can achieve dual tasks: isolating the patient from the power supply and reducing EMI without additional components, which can significantly reduce the size of the surrounding circuit.
Steve said: "our integrated transformer solution reduces EMI, which is a major problem that customers need to spend a lot of cost to solve. Now, they don't have to spend additional cost or occupy more space, so they don't have to try to arrange more intensive solutions in smaller devices."
This means that portable and wearable health monitors will become a reality, providing patients with greater freedom of movement.
Cecelia stated: "It's exciting to be able to help the world achieve more tasks with less power. This challenge is real in many applications and markets. As engineers and consumers, we all know the need for more data, more connected devices, smaller footprint and lower cost. We will provide power management solutions to meet these needs And challenges. "
Reducing the cost of power devices is an example. We are keen to reduce the cost of electronic products through semiconductor technology and make the world a better place. This passion will never die. We will always explore and innovate in the field of integrated circuits. Each generation of innovation is based on the previous generation of innovation, making the technology smaller, more efficient, more reliable and more affordable, so as to realize the wide application of semiconductors in the field of electronic products, which is the progress of engineering. This is what we have been doing for decades and even now.
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