650-V Bidirectional GaN Could Rewrite the Power-Conversion Playbook
What you’ll learn:
- The ins and outs of Renesas’ new series of 650-V bidirectional GaN switching devices launched at APEC 2026 in San Antonio, Texas.
- How bidirectional GaN can enable simpler, more efficient, single-stage power-conversion topologies in applications like solar microinverters.
- Why bidirectional GaN switches can also apply to AI data center infrastructure, energy storage systems (ESS), and automotive onboard chargers.
The reference design for a single-stage 500-W solar microinverter built by Renesas Electronics is a compelling demonstration of how the company is using the unique properties of gallium nitride (GaN) to create robust, highly efficient, and cost-effective bidirectional power-conversion solutions.
The TP65B110HRU is a GaN-based, 650-V, 110-mΩ, bidirectional switch that can block both positive and negative currents in one device. Thus, it’s able to implement single-stage power conversion with fewer components and higher efficiency than conventional designs based on unidirectional devices (see figure). This includes applications like AI data center infrastructure, solar microinverters, automotive onboard chargers (OBCs), and battery systems.
In the video below, Pietro Scalia, head of power system architecture and marketing at Renesas, runs through the technical details of the new reference design and its advantages over conventional inverters. The 650-V bidirectional GaN power device brings together a high-voltage bidirectional d-mode GaN chip co-packaged with two low-voltage silicon MOSFETs that feature high threshold voltage (3 V), high gate margin (±20 V), and built-in body diodes for efficient reverse conduction.
For more details on the technology, Renesas published a whitepaper: “Renesas High Voltage GaN Bi-Directional Switches: Strong Performance, Simpler to Use.”
>>Check out more of our APEC 2026 coverage
About the Author
Lee Goldberg
Contributing Editor
Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.
Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.
Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.
Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.
Lee also writes the regular PowerBites series.