Why does Anker produce the world's smallest chargers?

Anker Powerport Atom PD1 is the world's smallest 30W charger to date and the secret to making it such an amazingly small size lies in the new material instead of silicon: gallium nitride (GaN , transcription: Gallium nitride).

Over the decades, silicon has been viewed as the "backbone" of the high-tech industry, but the problem now is that we seem to be moving towards physical limitations in the process of helping This material is getting better and better, according to Danqing Wang, a Harvard candidate, who is conducting research on GaN.

The new material helped Anker build the world's smallest battery.

Each material itself possesses the so-called "band gap" - a value that is related to the electrical conductivity of that material. In theory, GaN's band gap is longer. silicon, which means it can maintain a higher voltage level than silicon, and the current flowing through the device is also faster, explains Martin Kuball, a physicist at Bristol University. , GaN helps electronic devices operate more efficiently, besides reducing energy loss.

'You can pack more GaNs in the same area and create very small things, but the performance is better,' Wang said. As the energy loss decreases, you can not only reduce the size of the charging device, but also make the charging process consume less energy. Kuball calculates if we replace the components of all existing electronic devices with GaN, the energy consumption can be reduced from 10 to 25%.

GaN's band gap is longer than silicon, meaning it can maintain a higher voltage level than silicon.

On the other hand, thanks to higher heat resistance than silicon, the use of GaN may also alter the design of products using this material in the future. For example, for current cars, most electronic devices are installed away from the engine to prevent them from overheating. However, GaN will remove this limit, thus opening new paths to change the design of the car.

In fact, GaN's value has been proven in other fields for a long time, particularly laser and photonic technology. Because it is one of the few materials that emits blue light, it is used in reading Blu-ray discs. In addition, this material can also be used in LED bulbs.

The value of GaN has been proved in other areas such as laser technology, photonic .

It is known that Wang and his colleagues are also working together to create ultra-small GaN laser beams - only 1/100 of the size of a human hair, then apply it to a microscope. to make the observation of male specimens more accurate.

With these potentials, GaN deserves to be a leading alternative to silicon, but in fact, the transition will not be easy, at least for cost. Because it has many advantages and is still not really popular, GaN is currently more expensive than silicon. Several expert groups are also trying to find ways to produce GaN crystals on silicon in hopes of making use of existing production platforms.

The charger developed from GaN material requires less components than the silicon charger.

When launching Powerport Atom PD1, Anker said that although GaN is currently more expensive than silicon, the charger developed from GaN material requires less components than the silicon charger, making the price quite competitive, not so much. difference. In the near future, the company expects to use GaN in many other products, including backup batteries.