The material that powers up our phones, cars, and even the 5G wireless networks is shrinking. Scientists have found a way to use graphene to create a new type of battery that could be used in everything from electric cars to wireless networks.
The gallium is a material that can be used to make phone chargers, electric cars, and 5G.
If you’re viewing this on a computer screen, you’re probably gazing into the future.
The metal gallium is found in most LED displays as well as the LED lights that currently supply much interior lighting. While it is not as well-known as silicon, it is replacing it in many of the areas where silicon previously ruled—from antennas to charging bricks and other energy-conversion devices known as “power electronics.” It’s allowing a slew of new innovations in the process, from faster-charging smartphones to lighter electric cars to more energy-efficient data centers that power the services and applications we use.
Gallium is a byproduct of the aluminum extraction process, and it has such a low melting point that it turns into a flowing, silvery-white liquid in your palm. It isn’t really helpful on its own. When you combine gallium with nitrogen to create gallium nitride, you get a rigid crystal with useful characteristics. It may be found in laser sensors used in many self-driving vehicles, antennas that allow today’s rapid cellular wireless networks, and, increasingly, electronics essential to improving the efficiency of renewable energy harvesting.
Many of the most visible applications of gallium nitride, commonly known as GaN, may be found in power electronics. Even though they are no larger than the far less powerful ones that have come with our devices for years, you can now purchase tiny USB-C chargers with enough energy to power your laptop, phone, and tablet simultaneously.
Apple has finally eliminated the painfully sluggish charging brick that has been included with iPhones for years. Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal takes it even farther, recommending the finest fast chargers and wireless alternatives from Anker, Aukey, Belkin, and others. Preston Jessee for The Wall Street Journal photo illustration
Many elements of electric cars rely on power electronics to convert one voltage level to another. EVs can go farther on a charge because they are smaller, lighter, more efficient, and produce less heat, according to Jim Witham, CEO of GaN Systems. He adds that such characteristics are also excellent for getting a lot more power out of renewable energy sources like solar panels. When modest efficiency improvements in converting energy occur many times, such as in a renewable-powered grid with battery storage, they add up.
GaN may be a miracle material, but it’s up against tried-and-true silicon and a growing list of other materials with the potential to transform modern electronics. Nonetheless, its applications are growing. GaN Systems’ chips are also being tested in data centers, where lowering power usage and waste heat may result in significant cost savings. None of the company’s data-center clients have openly admitted to utilizing the technique.
Not so long ago, GaN was just a laboratory curiosity. The Pentagon became interested after that, searching for new types of electronics to power next-generation radars and wireless communications. According to Rachel Oliver, a professor of materials science and director of the Centre for Gallium Nitride at Cambridge University, funding from Darpa, the Defense Department’s advanced research agency, began around 2000 and drove the experimentation required to overcome many of the barriers to commercialization.
Along with its many civilian uses, GaN is now being utilized in military gear for anything from radio jamming to missile defense, thanks to its unique characteristics.
Unlike silicon, GaN is capable of handling huge quantities of power. It has the odd characteristic of being both extremely excellent at moving electrons about and very good at keeping them from going where you don’t want them to go, according to Dr. Oliver, making it both helpful and reasonably safe.
Gallium’s metal form; the unique characteristics of gallium nitride, a crystalline compound, make it valuable in a variety of sophisticated devices.
The Wall Street Journal’s Gabriel Zimmer took this photo.
Along with its capacity to carry electricity, GaN’s ability to work at frequencies considerably higher than those achievable with silicon—between 30 and 500 times faster in commercial applications—allows for much smaller and more powerful chargers than conventional ones.
Anything that more efficiently performs the critical but easy-to-overlook function of converting electricity from one form to another has the potential to become both ubiquitous and a huge source of revenue as our entire world becomes increasingly electrified, from our sources of energy to the devices that use it. As a result, hundreds of startups and established businesses, such as Navitas Semiconductor, GaN Systems, Power Integrations, Texas Instruments, Infineon, and STMicroelectronics, have entered the market.
However, the GaN power electronics industry is still in its infancy. According to George Brocklehurst, a vice president of research at Gartner, the total market for all transistors was about $16 billion in 2019, while the market for the type provided by Navitas, GaN Systems, and others was $45 million.
Other potentially revolutionary materials, such as graphene, are beginning to compete with silicon, but GaN microchips have the significant advantage of being able to be manufactured in the same types of manufacturing facilities—called fabs—as conventional microchips, according to Stephen Oliver, Navitas’ head of marketing.
“ Toyota unveiled a prototype car using gallium nitride-based electronics recently. ”
GaN chips may be made in older, paid-for fabs that would otherwise be idled since they don’t need the most sophisticated chip-manufacturing technologies. According to Mr. Oliver, a fortuitous side consequence has been that GaN chip supply has not been affected by the worldwide semiconductor shortfall. The chips for Navitas are presently produced at TSMC’s oldest fab, which is still operational.
GaN adoption is currently so ubiquitous that costs are dropping fast. That’s why you can now purchase a GaN charger for $20 to $70 that is superior to the ones that came with your devices in every aspect.
GaN Systems, for example, is pushing the technology into new domains. GaN Systems is backed by both BMW and Toyota. From the car’s onboard charger to its LED lights, Toyota showed off a concept vehicle using GaN-based power electronics in 2019.
GaN chips, on the other hand, aren’t a sure thing. Materials science advancements have spawned a slew of rivals. According to Mr. Brocklehurst of Gartner, traditional silicon power electronics are still dominant in most applications, and silicon carbide, an option with many of the same characteristics as GaN, has a far longer track record in the automobile industry.
Gallium oxide and aluminum oxide are two intriguing but poorly understood compounds that may give all of the previously listed chemicals a run for their money. According to Dr. Oliver, both are semiconductors that can be designed into microchips.
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The largest market for semiconductors, the processors that power our computers, is where the material revolution has yet to take root. Until recently, GaN could only accomplish half of what a conventional silicon transistor could, according to Dr. Oliver.
Until yet, GaN has been unable to manage the electric-current flows required to do the kind of calculations performed by conventional silicon logic circuits. However, new studies indicate that this may be changing.
“Whether you had asked me a few years ago if we would see GaN for logic, I would have told you, ‘Oh, don’t be stupid,’” she adds. “However, it is now possible, and it may result in faster devices.”
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Christopher Mims can be reached at christopher.mims@wsj.com.
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