Schwerpunkte
29. März 2019, 09:00 Uhr | Ralf Higgelke
DESIGN&ELEKTRONIK editor Ralf Higgelke interviewing Balu Balakrishnan, Gene Sheridan, Bob LeFort and Jim Witham (clockwise from top left).
The Applied Power Electronics Conference, the world's largest and most important conference for applied power electronics, took place from 17 to 21 March 2019 in Anaheim, California. Of course, many CEOs also attended, and we were able to interview four of them.
For the 33rd time the APEC took place at the end of March, this year at Anaheim Convention Center, just a stone's throw away from Disneyland. It is estimated that around 8,000 participants attended 18 half-day Professional Education Seminars over five days, 698 presentations in 86 sessions and the latest academic research and industry-related topics.
As every year, APEC is also a platform to showcase the latest products and technologies of the major power electronics brands. So there were a lot of CEOs there, and we were able to talk to some of them.
With Balu Balakrishnan, CEO of Power Integrations, we talked about their latest innovative products, with Gene Sheridan, CEO of Navitas Semiconductor, we discussed the availability of their GaN chips, with Jim Witham, CEO of GaN Systems, we spoke about the benefits of proprietary GaN Island technology and proprietary package technology, and with Bob LeFort, President of Infineon Americas, we addressed the successful acquisition of International Rectifer and what Infineon has learned from IR.
We spoke to Balu Balakrishnan, the CEO of Power Integrations, about the latest products: BridgeSwitch, a half-bridge without cooler; SCALE i-Driver SiC, a driver device for SiC MOSFETs; InnoMux, a flyback controller for multiple outputs, which is able to regulate each output individually.
With the CEO of Navitas Semiconductor we talked about the availability of their GaN chips, where integration in GaN makes sense and where not, and how magnetic devices have recently evolved to meet the requirements of wideband gap semiconductors. He also told us why Navitas is the first to specifically address the market for chargers.
With the CEO of GaN Systems we talked about the advantages of having a proprietary GaN Island and proprietary package technology and about their latest products, the world's most powerful 650V GaN transistor for use in power modules and a low-cost version of their chips. Witham also told us what he will be discussing in his keynote address at PCIM Europe 2019.
We spoke to the President of Infineon Americas about the successful acquisition of International Rectifer and what Infineon has learned from IR.
