At some point, GaN (Gallium Nitride) chargers have started appearing. Along with that, incredibly small and cute chargers are coming out... They are truly really small. They are on the small side, almost just a plug.
If you search for GaN chargers on Google or Naver, you can encounter a variety of GaN chargers that are truly high-output and miniaturized compared to the past. It is truly the world of GaN.
So, GaN charging? No, what exactly is GaN? It's not going to be simple...
According to the wiki document, GaN is an abbreviation for Gallium Nitride and is said to be a compound of gallium nitride.
GaN (Gallium Nitride), nitrogen and gallium compound. A material that creates blue LEDs and blue lasers, once called the "holy grail" of the LED industry.Source Namu Wiki: https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%A7%88%ED%99%94%20%EA%B0%88%EB%A5%A8
So, what characteristics does gallium nitride have that allowed it to create smaller chargers compared to existing ones?
Let's first look at the characteristics of Gallium Nitride. There is a large energy difference between the conduction band and the non-conduction band. Simply put, when electricity does not pass, it withstands a high voltage, and when electricity passes, it sends a large current. Additionally, fast signal switching is possible, and the energy loss rate is low. As a result, power consumption can be reduced. Furthermore, it is suitable for use in environments with higher temperatures and pressure than silicon.Source : Coding World News (https://www.codingworldnews.com)
In other words, unlike the silicon-based materials widely used in making electrical components, devices made of gallium nitride are said to have a large difference between non-conduction (when electricity does not pass) and conduction (when electricity passes) (which we call the band gap), resulting in low energy loss during transmission and devices that can withstand higher temperatures and pressure than silicon.
In addition, carbon silicon also possesses a high bandgap similar to gallium nitride, but it is said that gallium nitride is widely used in chargers and communication equipment due to its fast switching (transition) characteristics. (Actually, I haven't looked into this part in detail, so I don't quite understand what fast switching is or why it is good.)
I'm not entirely sure, but in the past, it wasn't widely used because manufacturing costs were high. However, around 2019, mass production became possible in China. As a result, it has been widely utilized in chargers and other devices, gaining popularity and frequently being mentioned to people like me.
Below the blog has a detailed explanation, so it would be good to refer to it.
“What is the Next-Generation Power Semiconductor GaN? – Blog by Ye-bak_Iver “
https://artmu.tistory.com/2153
Also, the Belkin homepage, famous for chargers and accessories, also explains GaN and charging methods well.
It's organized in an interesting way, so I recommend checking it out.
https://www.belkin.com/kr/resource-center/gan-chargers/
I recently bought a GaN charger, and since I've seen this term often, I was curious, so I decided to summarize it briefly. It still feels a bit novel to me. I remember being amazed by silicon's material properties during my undergraduate years, thinking, "What on earth is this object?" Seeing new materials surpassing silicon makes it even more fascinating.
My recent review of Ugreen's GaN chargerhttps://blog.naver.com/progagmer/222872641521
That's why I want to watch as much as possible while living as long as possible, to see how far humanity develops.