Over the past year, you may have noticed that many USB charger companies are talking about GaN or gallium nitride technology.
But what is this GaN/gallium nitride technology? What are the benefits of GaN? And should you update all your chargers today?
Also: Anker’s Latest GaNPrime Energy Products: An Overview of Safe, Fast, and Sustainable Charging
To answer these questions, we need to take a short journey that touches a little on chemistry, physics and electronics.
Gallium nitride (chemical formula GaN) is a crystal-like semiconductor material with special properties. GaN has been used in electronics for decades, starting with LEDs in the 1990s, when it was used to emit light to illuminate TVs and computer displays, and later found use in solar cells, where it was used to convert light into electricity.
Now GaN has found its way into transistors and is replacing the former favorite semiconductor material, silicon.
A transistor is a tiny electronic switch that opens and closes very quickly, and GaN has several advantages over silicon when used in transistors. GaN transistors are not only smaller than silicon transistors, but they can carry more power, switch faster (about 40 million times per second, about four times faster than silicon transistors), and are much more energy efficient.
While silicon transistors have an energy efficiency of about 87%, GaN transistors increase this efficiency to over 95%.
The downsizing of the transistor means that new GaN USB chargers can be physically smaller than older silicon technology chargers. And while it’s good to have smaller chargers, it’s the increased efficiency that’s the most important factor when it comes to USB chargers, because the more efficient an electronic component is, the less heat it generates.
And the less heat generated, the less likely it is to overheat and the less cooling required to keep the charger running safely.
Understandably, consumers are concerned that chargers are hot to the touch. While chargers using silicon transistors often get too hot to touch, a charger using GaN technology rarely feels slightly warm.
Faster switching also means that the GaN transistor inside the charger can better control charging and respond to events such as overheating or overvoltage much faster than older transistors.
This higher efficiency and faster switching is critical for today’s USB-C chargers, because USB-C can handle even growing power load: 100-watt load is now commonplace, and 240-watt chargers will soon be a reality.
So, GaN USB chargers have many advantages. Does this mean you should throw away your old chargers and upgrade them?
If you’re happy with your existing chargers, use them until you feel the need to upgrade, then choose a new GaN USB charger that suits your needs. If your chargers are fine and they do what you want, it’s a shame to turn them into electronic waste.
However, if you need a smaller and cooler USB charger today, I highly recommend choosing a GaN charger because you get all the benefits of today’s technology for a small extra charge.
How do you know if you are buying a GaN charger? Don’t worry, it will speak for all marketing!
Also: Using the wrong USB-C cable can damage your equipment. Here’s how to avoid it
If you are looking for a GaN charger, I recommend looking at two companies: Anchor as well as uGreen. Both make high quality chargers and offer a wide range of choices, from small portable chargers to larger desktop chargers.