March 31, 2026 /SemiMedia/ — Renesas Electronics Corporation has introduced a 650V bidirectional GaN switch designed for solar microinverters, AI data center power systems and onboard EV chargers, aiming to reduce component count and simplify power conversion design.

The new device, TP65B110HRU, can block current in both directions within a single component. This allows engineers to replace traditional back-to-back FET configurations with one device, helping lower losses and reduce system complexity.

In conventional designs, silicon and SiC switches only block current in one direction when turned off, which often requires multi-stage conversion. For example, solar microinverters typically use multiple switching stages to convert DC to AC. Even in single-stage designs, engineers often rely on paired switches, increasing the number of components and limiting efficiency.

By enabling true bidirectional operation, the GaN device supports single-stage topologies with fewer switching elements. In a solar microinverter setup, only two high-voltage GaN devices may be required, removing the need for intermediate DC-link capacitors and reducing overall system size. The company said such designs can achieve efficiency above 97.5% in real applications.

The device combines a high-voltage GaN chip with silicon MOSFETs in one package and works with standard gate drivers without requiring negative voltage. This helps simplify the driver design and supports stable switching in both soft and hard switching conditions. Its high dv/dt capability also makes it suitable for topologies such as Vienna rectifiers.

With demand rising from AI infrastructure and energy systems, bidirectional GaN devices are expected to play a growing role in improving power density, reducing losses and shortening development cycles.

For more information, please visit TP65B110HRU.