It's time to learn about a wave of gallium nitride chargers

At the beginning of this article, I would like to ask you a question. At present, some people still keep the habit of charging their mobile phones at night. With the small edition of Huawei Mate 20 Pro in hand, they have basically given up this habit. The increased charging speed also makes it possible to recharge quickly, except, of course, for one company that's sticking with the standard five blessings and one safety.

You need both volume and power

From "Wufu Yi 'an" to 65W now, the power of the charging head is getting higher and higher, and the size is getting bigger and bigger. Although we think the size of the charging head is still within the acceptable range, but in the long run, the contradiction between power and volume will become more and more prominent. The iPad Pro can charge up to 30W, but Apple is only offering an 18W charging head for the iPad Pro's portability. I don't know if it's portability or cost control, but I think it's probably portability. The fact that Apple would rather reduce the charging power is enough to show how important the size of the charging head is.

However, the current materials used to make charging heads are silicon-based semiconductors. Under Moore's Law, in addition to further improving silicon related manufacturing processes, to reduce volume and increase power. The search for a new generation of semiconductor materials has also become an important direction.

Gallium nitride is a new generation of semiconductor materials.

How did gallium nitride become the material of choice for fast charging head?

Gallium nitride, the molecular formula GaN, is literally a compound of nitrogen and gallium. It is not a new semiconductor material; it has been used regularly in light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. But the material never caught on because it was difficult to make. Conventional gallium nitride is difficult to make because it is based on sapphire substrates.

Gallium nitride used now is basically non-sapphire substrate, but silicon substrate (silicon), the use of silicon gallium nitride can further reduce the difficulty of making gallium nitride, at the same time silicon is very cheap, many processes can also be reused, so all gallium nitride charging products on the market are made of silicon-based gallium nitride.

Why is gallium nitride the next generation of semiconductor materials?

Three characteristics of gallium nitride: high switching frequency, wide band gap, and lower on-off resistance.

Switching frequency refers to the number of times per second that the thyristor, thyristor and other electronic components inside the charging head can be completely switched on and off. High switching frequency can reduce the size of the transformer and capacitor, which helps to reduce the size and weight of the charging head.

The band gap width directly determines the voltage resistance and the highest working temperature of electronic devices. The larger the band gap width is, the higher the voltage and temperature the device can bear, the higher the breakdown voltage and power will be.

The lower on-off resistance is directly represented by the calorific value of conduction. The lower the on-off resistance, the lower the calorific value.

These three features are totally tailor-made for the charging head.

Three words sum up the charge head using gallium nitride material: small, efficient, low heat.

Suggestions

many of the gallium nitride charging heads on the market are PD fast charging, if your mobile phone does not support PD fast charge protocol, it is recommended to detour. Of course, many charging heads are also compatible with other fast charging agreements. For example, in Jingdong's certain gram charging head, it says that it supports Android mobile phone fast charging, but the result shows that it supports Android 12W fast charging. 12W also have the courage to say quick charge in Android phone,it is recommended to go out and turn left to find iPhone.

Of course, as other private fast charge protocols open up licensing, the relevant charging head manufacturers will also integrate some private fast charge protocols into the charging head.

At present, OPPO VOOC flash charge has been licensed, and related charging head manufacturers have been doing integration. Huawei SCP fast charge protocol is not open at present, but there has been a charging head that supports Huawei 44W fast charge on the market,  We do not know how these manufacturers operate, I dare not ask, please buy carefully.