This section provides an overview for gate driver ics as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 14 gate driver ic manufacturers and their company rankings. Here are the top-ranked gate driver ic companies as of April, 2024: 1.NXP Semiconductors, 2.Hitachi Power Semiconductor Device, Ltd., 3.Texas Instruments.
Table of Contents
A gate driver IC is an integrated circuit (IC) that combines circuits for driving and controlling liquid crystal displays, motors, and other devices.
Designing such control circuits with discrete components is problematic because the overall circuit design, including the control circuits and their surroundings, is complex and prone to overcurrent and overheating. Therefore, by integrating a control circuit with the same functions into the driver IC, it is possible to simplify the overall circuit design, reduce the size of the entire circuit, and save power.
In addition to avoiding the risk of overcurrent and overheating, the advantage of reducing the power consumption of the entire circuit is that the usable time of battery-driven products can be extended. Also, assuming that the area that can be used for the control circuit is about the same, using an IC can realize a larger-scale and more complicated circuit.
In particular, LCD gate driver ICs have advanced along with the miniaturization of electronic devices (miniaturization of individual circuit elements), and with the high resolution and power saving requirements of displays.
Gate driver ICs are used as control circuits in a wide range of fields, including home appliances, communications equipment, transportation equipment, and industrial equipment.
The following is a list of major gate driver ICs and their applications.
LCD gate driver ICs, called LCD drivers, are used to control the displays of PCs, smartphones, and other devices (LCD: Liquid Crystal Display). is the development of advanced functions for the entire device, such as the incorporation of memory to store the display information.
Motor gate driver ICs are widely used to control motors in products such as home appliances, vending machines, robot arms, etc. PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) control enables higher efficiency.
LED light gate driver ICs are used to control the light emission of products that use LEDs, such as automotive LEDs, lighting LEDs, and LED displays. Compared to conventional products, it has the great advantage of being able to reduce power consumption. By using PWM control, it is possible to achieve a dimming function without changing the color of the LED lighting equipment.
Gate driver ICs are used in industrial robots, power tools, electric bikes, cooling fans, and drones. In recent years, products that integrate a microcontroller for control and a gate driver on a single chip have emerged. These are called "smart gate drivers," and they enable miniaturization of the entire circuit and higher functionality.
Technologies for miniaturization, power saving, and higher efficiency are being recognized as major issues in the overall development of electrical devices.
In some cases, it is possible to design control circuits with discrete components without using gate driver ICs.
For example, if a motor driver is not used, the circuit configuration becomes more complex because four MOS-FETs are used. On the other hand, since the motor driver IC incorporates MOS-FETs for control, it is possible to simplify the overall circuit configuration, including the motor and control circuit.
LCDs have signal lines and scanning lines wired in a matrix. Pixels exist at the intersections of the two lines, and color coding is performed by finely adjusting the voltage values applied to the pixels. Both signal lines and scanning lines require control circuits, but designing with discrete components is impractical due to space constraints and the need for increasingly complex and large-scale control circuits to accommodate higher LCD resolutions.
Therefore, actual products use LCD driver LSIs (an advanced type of driver IC) as control circuits.
*Including some distributors, etc.
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Incorporated in 1965, Analog Devices, Inc. designs, manufactures, tests, and markets integrated circuits (ICs), software, and subsystems that leverage analog, mixed-signal, and digital signal processing technologies. The company provides data converter products, power management and reference products for power conversion, driver monitoring, sequencing, and energy management applications in the automotive, communications, industrial, and high-end consumer markets. In addition, the company provides digital signal processing and system products for high-speed numeric calculations. It serves clients in the industrial, automotive, consumer, instrumentation, aerospace, and communications markets.
Power Integrations, a manufacturer of power semiconductor solutions, was established in 1988 and is headquartered in San Jose, California. The company provides cutting-edge technologies for high-efficiency power conversion, serving industries such as electronics, consumer electronics, and industrial. The company also offers a range of services to its customers, including design support, application engineering, and product training. The company intends to help its customers design and implement efficient and dependable power solutions possible.
Broadcom Inc., established in 1961, and headquartered in San Jose, California, is a manufacturer and supplier of semiconductor and connectivity solutions. The company specializes in producing products, such as semiconductors, infrastructure software, networking products, storage products, wireless products in which their products cater to industries such as telecommunications, data centers, and consumer electronics. Their products are used for various applications, including wireless communication, networking equipment, data storage, and multimedia devices, providing components for advanced technologies in numerous industrial and commercial sectors.
LAPIS Technology, founded in Japan, in 2020 is a manufacturer of Microcontroller, Video LSI, and Speech Synthesis LSI. The company's product portfolio includes Wireless LSI, Wireless Charging LSI, Display Driver, Li-ion Battery Monitoring LSI and displays that are used in TV sets, PC monitors, vehicles and industrial monitors. The company serves markets including Automotive and Electric Vehicles, Renewable Energy and Energy Storage and Electronics and IT Infrastructure. The company provides services such as Product Selection Guidance, Engineering Support, and Custom Manufacturing.
Nisshinbo Micro Devices Inc., established in 1959, and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a manufacturer of semiconductors and electronic components. The company specializes in producing integrated circuits, discrete semiconductors, optoelectronic devices, which caters to industries such as telecommunications, automotive, and consumer electronics. The company holds ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 certifications, ensuring quality in their products which are used for various applications, including wireless communication, automotive systems, and industrial automation, providing crucial electronic components for advanced technologies in various industrial and commercial sectors.
Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation is a division of Toshiba focusing on providing designs for end-product developers as well as semiconductor and drive equipment for automotive, industrial equipment, green energy, and consumer and personal electronic devices. Toshiba’s storage products include cloud-scale and enterprise-level products, and PC hard drives. Semiconductor products include Si Cower devices, MOSFETs, IGBTs, IEGTs, isolators, solid state relays, power management and intelligent power ICs, diodes, bipolar transistors, microcontrollers, automotive devices, ICs for wireless communication equipment, general purpose logic ICs, radio-frequency devices, sensors, and linear image sensors.
Hitachi Power Semiconductor Device, Ltd., established in 2013, is a designer, manufacturer, and retailer of semiconductor components and application equipment headquartered in Ibaraki, Japan. The company’s product portfolio includes IGBT/SIC, high-voltage monolithic ICs, and diodes used in automotive, industry, railway, and consumer field applications. Their diode product portfolio includes zener, surge suppressor, alternator, general-use rectifier, and high-voltage diodes. They offer high-voltage monolithic ICs including high-voltage analog switches, single-chip inverter ICs, and IGBT/power MOSFET driver ICs.
NXP was established in 2006 as a spinoff from Phillips and is headquartered in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company is a co-founder of NFC communication and designs and manufactures semiconductors that serve the automotive, industrial, mobile, and smart home industries. The company’s automotive products include driver assistance transceivers, sensors, and security systems. For industrial markets, the company produces RFID readers, processors, and microcontrollers. For communication infrastructure, the company produces RF mixers, diodes, and low-noise amplifiers for wireless LAN networks. The company also produces peripherals, power management chips, communications chips, and interface devices.
Acme Chip Technology Co. Ltd., founded in 2008 and based in Shenzhen, China, is a distributor of electronic components that is ISO 9001 certified. Its products include sensors, power supplies, and optical inspection equipment sourced from several manufacturers, including Advanced Linear Devices Inc., Central Semiconductor Corp., and Fluke. The company also offers a large stock of electronic components, including obsolete components and old code chips that are always available for immediate shipment.
ST Micro Electronics is a global semiconductor company serving customers with innovations to have a positive impact on people's lives. Their product line is micro electronic systems, such as switches, controllers, sensors and drivers. The main selling point of ST Micro Electronics is its provision of sustainable products, and introducing their electronics to create a more sustainable world. The company, as well as providing the electronic devices, also provides software and support, ensuring that all fields are covered to provide a fully provide a supported and strong relationship with their customer base. ST Micro Electronics believe that technology plays a key role in helping to solve environmental and social challenges, which is why their semiconductor technologies start with their employees, their customers and partners.
Texas Instruments Incorporated was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Texas Instruments is a producer of high tech equipment for industrial, automotive, personal electronics, communications equipment industries. Texas Instruments designs, manufactures, and sells semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers in the United States and internationally. Texas Instruments operates in two segments: analog and embedded processing. The Analog segment offers power products, including battery-management solutions, DC/DC switching regulators, power switches, linear regulators, voltage references, and lighting products. The Embedded Processing segment offers microcontrollers that are used in fields such as electronic equipment and digital signal processors for mathematical computations.
Infineon Technologies AG (Infineon) is headquartered in Neubiberg, Germany. Infineon designs, develops, manufactures, and markets semiconductors and related system solutions worldwide. Infineon’s automotive segment produces microcontrollers, discrete power semiconductors, IGBT modules, industrial microcontrollers, power and radar sensor ICs, SiC diodes, MOSFETs voltage regulators, comfort electronics, infotainment, powertrain, and security products. Industrial Power Control segment provides bare dies, discrete IGBTs, and driver ICs among other components. Power & Sensor Systems segment offers gas and pressure sensors, MEMS microphone chips, control ICs, and GaN power switches among others.
Egismos Technology Corporation, established in 1995 and based in Burnaby, Canada, is a manufacturer and supplier of laser-based optoelectronics solutions. The company's product range includes Laser sensing, Laser module, Laser diode, Laser optics, and Laser driver IC. These products find applications in diverse areas, such as consumer electronics, medical devices, robotics, and various industrial projects. It serves markets ranging from the consumer industry to the medical fields and robotics. Its core services include customer satisfaction, embracing change, fostering partnerships and alliances, and ensuring transparent communication.
ROHM Semiconductor was incorporated in 1940 and is headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. ROHM manufactures and sells electronic components worldwide. ROHM operates through the segments ICs, discrete semiconductor devices, and modules. ROHM provides ICs comprising memory, amplifiers and linear, power management, clocks and timers, switches and multiplexers, logic, data converters, sensors and MEMS, display drivers, motor/actuator drivers, interfaces, communication and speech synthesis LSI, audio and video, and microcontrollers. ROHM also offers discrete semiconductor products include MOSFETs, bipolar transistors, and diodes; power devices, including power transistors and diodes, SiC power devices, IGBT, and IPM; passive devices, such as resistors, and conductive polymer and tantalum capacitors; and various modules among others.
Ranking as of April 2024
Derivation MethodRank | Company | Click Share |
---|---|---|
1 | NXP Semiconductors |
33.3%
|
2 | Hitachi Power Semiconductor Device, Ltd. |
33.3%
|
3 | Texas Instruments |
16.7%
|
4 | Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage |
16.7%
|
Derivation Method
The ranking is calculated based on the click share within the gate driver ic page as of April 2024. Click share is defined as the total number of clicks for all companies during the period divided by the number of clicks for each company.Number of Employees
Newly Established Company
Company with a History
*Including some distributors, etc.
*Including some distributors, etc.
Country | Number of Companies | Share (%) |
---|---|---|
Japan | 5 | 55.6% |
United States of America | 3 | 33.3% |
Netherlands | 1 | 11.1% |