What is GaN Charging, and How Is It Better?

Power adapters, whether it’s for your laptop, phone, or other device, have one task only. They fill the battery up when its charge level is low. In the past, these adapters have been fairly large and bulky. However, in recent times, companies have begun embracing GaN charging. This has resulted in a significant shift towards smaller and more portable adapters.

With GaN charging, power adapters are now smaller and easier to carry. But it’s not just the size that makes this charging technology better than the traditional power adapters. There is a lot more to discover, and you can delve deeper into the technology by reading further.

What is GaN?

GaN, which stands for gallium nitride, is a semiconductor material. And as it goes with all semiconductors, this semiconductor can act both like a conductor and an insulator. Its behavior depends on how much voltage is flowing through it.

Semiconductors play a basic yet very crucial role in electronic devices. When they are formed into transistors, they act like tiny devices capable of amplifying or switching electronic signals. And inside a chip, you will find thousands or even millions of these.

The most common semiconductor material manufacturers use in devices is silicon. You will find these in the form of silicon oxide. And the most common transistors that are inside different devices are MOSFETs. But GaN isn’t just any ordinary semiconductor.

Gallium nitride belongs to a specific category of materials called wide band gap semiconductors. Here, a wide band gap means that these materials require a high voltage to transition from insulator to conductor. But that doesn’t mean that GaN materials have high overall resistance.

To be exact, when compared to silicon oxide, GaN has lower resistance. And for that reason, it does a much better job of switching and retaining signals. These wide band gap semiconductors also perform better at higher voltage loads and temperatures. These two properties, in particular, make the material very useful for power adapters.

What Role Does GaN Charging Tech Play in Power Adapters

There’s a lot that’s inside the power adapter you are using to charge your devices. After all, power adapters need to ensure safe charging. In other words, they need to determine the amperage and voltage your device can accept. They also need to ensure that the voltage is regulated during the entire charging session. Also, they convert the AC current coming from the wall to DC.

For all the components packed inside a relatively small size, transistors have a huge role to play. More specifically, they handle the all-important power management and power conversion tasks. The big advantage of GaN lies in these tasks, as they perform better in these tasks when compared to traditional semiconductors.

GaN’s advantage in these regards is best explained by power solution vendors such as CUI. The vendor says that the performance of gallium nitride in transistors is leading to better signal performance across different devices. That too with lower losses in quality and better propagation.

Thanks to GaN, accessory manufacturers don’t need to use a ton of transistors to achieve a targeted power output level. What’s more important is that this translates to smaller sizes and compact power adapters. Even the space-consuming transformers inside the adapters can be shrunk into something extremely small.

All of these advantages of GaN bring small and tiny 30W power adapters to the market. Even though they are small in size, they can easily charge your phone in about an hour. And for laptops, power adapters with gallium nitride tech can easily fit inside a messenger bag.

What Does Gallium Nitride Chargin Mean for You?

No matter how good GaN charging may be, the power lies in the shopper’s hand. Here, one big thing to note is that phone manufacturers have stopped including a charging brick in the box. While laptops do still come with power adapters, most of them are too large to be easily portable.

That said, if you’ve had multiple devices in the past, you might already have a couple of charging bricks around. But if you want better performance and better portability, it’s time to replace those old bricks with a new GaN charging adapter.

And while the GaN on charging solutions is still fairly new, plenty of great bricks are out there. Most of them even cost less than traditional charging bricks. Also, with some, you get the ability to charge multiple devices with the same charging brick. That is, they come with multiple USB ports.

But do make sure that you check all the features before making the purchase. GaN charging adapters won’t be good if they do not come with advanced charging solutions. That includes power delivery standards, USB standards, amperage rating, and voltage rating.

If you find yourself confused among all the GaN charging adapters in the market, you can check out our guide. It has a list of some of the best power adapters the market has to offer.