Power electronics is omnipresent. It is behind the processing of 80 percent of world electricity before it is served to computers, servers, electric vehicles, and other electronic devices. Many of these applications rely on silicon transistors that switch on and off to regulate voltage but, due to speed and resistance constraints, waste energy as heat. A next-generation material that can replace silicon and ensure performance and efficiency is Gallium Nitride (GaN). A wide-band-gap semiconductor material that has already been used in every LED light bulb, GaN is also hailed as the future of 21st-century power electronics. With its excellent electronic properties, this semiconductor material promises transistors with more than 10 times higher switching speed and up to 1000 times lower resistance per area than the incumbent Silicon transistors, resulting in new opportunities for more compact and efficient power electronics circuits and sustainable energy production. Currently, GaN transistors are starting to replace the Si transistors in a few applications, such as smaller form-factor power adapters for laptops and cellphones. However, due to the lack of gate insulator, trapping induced instability, absence of avalanche capability, and other challenges, significant trade-offs have been made in these GaN transistors so that its performance, such as the switching speed and efficiency, are quite far from what GaN semiconductor material has to offer.

Cambridge Electronics Inc. (CEI), an MIT spinout,is working on the next generation GaN technology to open a new realm of possibilities for power electronics and 5G communications. Founded by Professor Tomas Palacios and Dr. Bin Lu, a renowned professor-student duo of MIT, the company has pioneered a new way of making GaN devices through an innovative 3DGaN technology.

Unlike the conventional GaN technology with a two-dimensional planar device structure, the 3DGaN technology incorporates three-dimensional fin-like structures in the GaN transistor design, which offers more flexibility to shape the electric field inside the device, critical for improving switching performance and durability. The company is also solving one of GaN transistor’s greatest challenges: making a reliable gate insulator for normally-off GaN transistors. “What sets us apart from others is our team’s ability to break the assumptions of conventional ideas and innovate with fundamental physics principles. Our goal is to realize the full potential of GaN semiconductor and provide quantum leap in terms of power density and integration,” says Bin Lu, CEO and co-founder of CEI.

The company’s co-founder Prof. Tomas Palacios is a world-leading expert in the field, while Dr. Bin Lu was his first Ph.D. student working in GaN power semiconductor devicesat MIT. Their innovative work has won the prestigious IEEE George Smith Award. The team has a diverse background, including physicist, material scientist, chemist, and electrical engineers graduated from MIT, Harvard, and Caltech.

Currently, CEI is preparing to release its first-generation 3DGaN high voltage transistors for high efficiency and high power density power supplies. Recently, the company is selected as one of the finalists in the ARPA-E SCALEUP program to pilot production of its advanced 3DGaN FinFET technology in 8” US foundry for datacenter and 5G applications. With the challenging status quo in its DNA, CEI is poised to be a part of the energy revolution for the 21st century.