Student develops attention-getting gallium-nitride MOSFET

A student researcher at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a gallium-nitride MOSFET that, thanks to its ability to operate in extreme power and temperature conditions, captured the attention of top automakers even before the student graduated in May.

Weixao Huang, the son of rural Chinese farmers, developed a new process that enables the construction of the transistor. The resulting device not only tolerates extremes of heat and power, but also reduces energy losses, he reports. The MOSFET's resilience could make electronics viable in environments too harsh for today's silicon transistors and will allow higher integration and efficiency in current applications, according to Rensselaer.