STMicro goes green, intros power MOSFET family

BANGALORE, INDIA: A new family of power products from STMicroelectronics, enables technology companies to satisfy stricter power and efficiency targets set by eco-design standards and to target green-energy applications such as solar micro-inverters, photovoltaic string inverters and electric vehicles.

The new devices include the super-junction transistors (MOSFETs) capable of withstanding peak voltages up to 950V, as well as 900V devices offering better  energy efficiency and the world’s only 850V devices to be offered in the ultra thin and space-saving PowerFLAT 8x8 HV package.

Super-junction technology enables MOSFETs to achieve higher operating voltages with very low electrical on-resistance in relation to device size, enabling power supplies to deliver increased system reliability and energy efficiency within compact overall dimensions.

ST is a major supplier of super-junction MOSFETs, and now offers the industry’s only second source of 900V super-junction devices. In addition, the family will soon be extended to include new 800V devices.

MOSFETs are common applications in flat-panel televisions, PC power supplies, LED lighting drivers, and electronic ballasts for High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps. The company claims that, MOSFETs will enable designers to meet increasingly strict limits on maximum power and minimum energy efficiency specified by eco-design standards such as Energy Star and the EU’s Energy-related Products (ErP) Directive.

The high voltage rating of MOSFETs increases system safety and reliability. This is an important benefit in HID lamp ballasts and other systems operating at AC line voltages and higher, such as solar micro-inverters and charging points for electric vehicles. Charging points require very high power-conversion efficiency both to minimize charge time and vehicle running costs.

In dc-to-ac inverters for solar micro-generators, high-efficiency, high-voltage MOSFETs enable designers to use higher switching frequencies and so generate high-quality ac power while reducing energy losses and solution size.