Fewer iterations, faster validation, quicker paths from lab to production.
At the intersection of materials science and the electric vehicle revolution, Keysight Technologies has introduced a specialized test board that brings gallium nitride semiconductors within reach of the engineers designing tomorrow's power converters. The announcement reflects a broader truth about technological progress: new materials alone do not transform industries — the tools to measure, validate, and trust them must arrive first. By extending its PD1500A platform to accommodate GaN's demanding characteristics, Keysight is quietly building the infrastructure upon which faster, lighter, and more efficient electric vehicles may one day depend.
- Wide-bandgap semiconductors like GaN promise dramatic gains in EV power conversion, but their extreme switching speeds have made reliable testing a persistent bottleneck for engineers.
- Without precise characterization tools, prototype cycles drag on and manufacturers risk falling behind in an intensely competitive EV supply chain.
- Keysight's new GaN test board integrates with its existing PD1500A analyzer, giving Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs a validated path to faster design iteration and shorter time-to-market.
- GaN is currently limited to lower-power EV applications like on-board chargers, but vertical GaN structures capable of 1.2 kV and beyond could soon challenge silicon carbide in high-power traction inverters.
- The company is positioning itself — and its customers — to move decisively when GaN makes its anticipated leap into the core of EV powertrains.
Keysight Technologies has unveiled a customized gallium nitride test board for its PD1500A power device analyzer, targeting the engineers and manufacturers building advanced power converters for electric vehicles and renewable energy systems.
Power converters are foundational to EV technology — transforming battery energy for motor drive, managing on-board charging, and enabling vehicle-to-grid functions. For years, silicon semiconductors handled these tasks, but wide-bandgap materials like GaN and silicon carbide now offer superior switching speed, voltage tolerance, and thermal efficiency, enabling smaller and cheaper converters. The challenge has been measurement: GaN devices switch so fast that characterizing them accurately requires purpose-built test infrastructure.
Keysight's PD1500A already supported silicon and silicon carbide devices. The new GaN board extends that capability, giving designers the precise, repeatable data they need to reduce prototype iterations and accelerate validation cycles.
For now, GaN remains largely confined to lower-power EV applications such as on-board chargers and DC-to-DC converters. But emerging vertical GaN architectures are expected to reach voltages above 1.2 kilovolts — territory currently dominated by silicon carbide. Should that transition materialize, GaN could compete for a central role in high-power traction inverters, and Keysight's expanded measurement platform would place both the company and its customers at the ready.
Keysight Technologies announced a specialized test board designed to speed up the development of gallium nitride power converters for electric vehicles. The new board works with the company's PD1500A analyzer—a device that measures how semiconductor components perform under real-world conditions—and is aimed at the engineers and manufacturers building the next generation of EV charging systems and motor controllers.
Power converters sit at the heart of electric vehicle technology. They take the high-voltage energy stored in a car's battery and transform it into the alternating current needed to drive the motor. Beyond the main traction inverter, converters handle dozens of other tasks: managing the on-board charger that lets drivers plug in at home, controlling DC-to-DC voltage conversion, and enabling vehicle-to-grid applications where cars feed power back into the electrical system. Getting these components right is essential to making EVs practical and affordable.
For years, engineers relied on traditional silicon semiconductors for these tasks. But a new class of materials—wide-bandgap semiconductors, particularly gallium nitride and silicon carbide—promise significant advantages. They switch faster, handle higher voltages, and dissipate heat more efficiently. The result is smaller, lighter, cheaper power converters that waste less energy as heat. The catch is that designing with these new materials is genuinely difficult. Engineers need precise, repeatable measurements of how the semiconductors behave at high speeds and under stress. Without reliable test data, prototype cycles stretch out and time-to-market suffers.
Keysight's PD1500A was built to solve this problem. The platform can characterize both traditional silicon devices and the newer silicon carbide components. Now, with the customized gallium nitride test board, it can also measure GaN semiconductors with the speed and precision these faster-switching devices demand. For Tier 1 suppliers and original equipment manufacturers designing power converters, this means fewer iterations, faster validation, and quicker paths from lab to production.
Today, gallium nitride is mostly confined to lower-power applications in EVs—on-board chargers and DC-to-DC converters. But the technology is evolving. Vertical GaN structures, still in development, are expected to handle voltages of 1.2 kilovolts and higher, matching or exceeding what silicon carbide can do. If that happens, GaN could move into the high-power traction inverter space, where it would compete directly with silicon carbide for a central role in EV powertrains. Keysight's measurement capability positions the company and its customers to move quickly when that transition arrives.
Citações Notáveis
Keysight's measurement science enables a commercially available solution for repeatable and reliable characterization of GaN power devices, accelerating the ability of OEM and Tier 1 providers to introduce competitive EV technology to the market.— Keysight Technologies
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Why does testing matter so much here? Can't engineers just build the converter and see if it works?
They could, but it would be expensive and slow. These semiconductors switch thousands of times per second. You need to measure exactly how they behave at those speeds—how much energy they lose, how hot they get, whether they're stable. Without that data, you're designing blind.
So this test board is just a faster way to get the same measurements?
Not quite. GaN switches so much faster than silicon that the old test setups can't keep up. The board is designed specifically for GaN's speed. It gives you reliable, repeatable data that actually reflects what will happen in a real car.
And that saves time how?
If your measurements are trustworthy, you don't need to build as many prototypes. You validate the design once, confidently, and move to production. That could cut months off the development cycle.
You mentioned vertical GaN could change everything. What's the difference?
Current GaN works well for lower-power tasks. Vertical GaN—it's a different crystal structure—can handle much higher voltages. That opens the door to using it in the main motor controller, which is where the real power flows in an EV.
So Keysight is betting on that future?
They're positioning themselves for it. By having the measurement capability ready now, they'll be the trusted partner when engineers start designing with vertical GaN at scale.