Advanced Power Technology Announces New 550 and 1100 Volt POWER MOSFETs Improve Reliability of Power Converters.

Business Editors

BEND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 2002

Advanced Power Technology (APT)(Nasdaq:APTI) announces a new line of 550 and 1100 volt POWER MOS 7(R) FREDFETs (MOSFET with fast body diode) designed specifically to provide additional voltage safety margin for increased system reliability. In some power converter designs additional safety margin is needed between the breakdown voltage rating and the maximum operating voltage of the device in the system. This extra safety margin often increases system reliability by minimizing device failures due to single event burn-out (SEB). SEB can be a major cause of device failures which can be reduced significantly by increasing the voltage safety margin. This is a well known failure mechanism in space and airborne power conversion systems where high voltage power MOSFETs have been voltage derated up to 50% (maximum operating voltage equal to 50% of device breakdown voltage rating) or more to minimize this effect. Historically, terrestrial applications have ignored this failure mechanism due to the lower flux of cosmic rays at earth surfaces and designers have typically derated power MOSFETs to 80% of rated voltage to meet required reliability levels. However, as reliability demands on terrestrial power converters have become more stringent, failures due to SEB can become significant in many high power designs. In these designs it is not often desirable or easy to reduce the operating voltage of the system so a higher breakdown voltage rating for the device is the only alternative. However, the higher breakdown voltage means higher power losses due to higher on resistance of the MOSFET. Many power converters use 500 and 1000 volt MOSFETs. Additional voltage derating typically means going from 500 to 600 volts and from 1000 to 1200 volts which significantly increases the on resistance and conduction losses of the devices with corresponding lower efficiencies. By providing in-between voltages such as 550 and 1100 volts the increased power losses are reduced and often can provide the most cost effective and time efficient solution to a design. With higher demands on system reliability, SEB is a growing reliability concern and APT has developed this product line to significantly reduce SEB failures while minimizing the performance penalty of voltage derating.

These high performance and reliable FREDFETs utilize APT's advanced proprietary POWER MOS 7(R) Technology. This technology has our patented metal on polysilicon gate structure, which lowers the internal chip gate resistance up to two orders of magnitude compared to industry standard polysilicon gate devices. This, combined with low gate charge and on-resistance, makes the 550 and 1100 volt FREDFETs the designers choice for high performance and uncompromising system reliability.

Key Features & Benefits

-- Increased voltage margin for improved system reliability

-- Metal gate structure for extremely low gate resistance

-- Fast intrinsic body diode

-- Low conduction losses

-- Low switching losses

-- Commercial, hermetic, and custom module packages and unpackaged die

The 550 and 1100 volt lines are available in TO-247, T-MAX(TM), TO-264, 264-Max(TM), and Isotop(R) (SOT-227) molded plastic packages. Product samples are available in a wide range of on-resistances and current ratings as shown in the table below.

       Voltage                Maximum              Maximum
       Rating,            On-Resistance,       Current Rating,
        volts                milliohms               amps
----------------------- -------------------- ---------------------
         550                 50 - 310              20 - 80
----------------------- -------------------- ---------------------
         1100               260 - 1200             10 - 30

Hermetic packaging, Hi-Rel screening options, unpackaged die and lot acceptance testing are also available. Pricing ranges from $5.62 to $59.46 in 1000 piece quantities. Product samples are available starting immediately.

To assist the designer, data sheets are available for downloading from our web site, www.advancedpower.com, or can be obtained from the factory.

With operations in Bend, Ore., Santa Clara, Calif., Montgomeryville, Penn. and Bordeaux, France, APT is a leading supplier of high voltage, high power MOSFETs, IGBTs, Bipolar Transistors, Ultra-Fast Recovery and Schottky Diodes, and Application Specific Power Modules (ASPM(R)) for RF, Microwave, Linear, and Switch Mode applications.

For additional information, contact APT at 405 SW Columbia Street, Bend, Ore. 97702 Phone: [phone] or 541/382-8028 outside of North America; Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail].