A GaN power chip designed in Ecuador aims to make energy conversion more efficient

The growing electricity demand of technologies such as artificial intelligence is drawing attention to the components that control and supply power to equipment. The International Energy Agency estimates that data-center electricity consumption in the United States alone grew 12% annually between 2015 and 2024. Globally, consumption is expected to rise from 485 TWh in 2025 to around 950 TWh in 2030, nearly double. (iea.org)

In Ecuador, Nataly Pozo Viera, who holds a doctorate from Sorbonne Université and is a researcher at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, works on a less visible part of electronics: the systems and circuits that convert and control electricity. After more than 15 years of training and research in energy and power electronics, she has focused in recent years on microelectronics and developing a power integrated circuit made entirely from gallium nitride (GaN).

Unlike chips that process or store data, GaN power semiconductors help convert and control electricity before it reaches equipment. During this process, unwanted effects known as parasitics can arise. They cause power losses and heat, and can affect switching. Pozo’s work characterizes these effects to understand how they influence the circuit. As the researcher explains, “the more parasitics there are, the longer it takes and the hotter things get.” This knowledge can inform the design of more efficient circuits, although determining whether that translates into energy savings requires testing the converter and the complete system.

From “too ambitious” to a manufactured chip

Pozo grew up in a rural area of Tungurahua, Ecuador, and was the first person in her family to pursue a STEM degree. She says that when she set out to manufacture an integrated circuit in Ecuador, some people considered the goal too ambitious. Even so, she held on to it throughout her education and research career.

To move into chip design, she expanded her experience in energy systems and studied microelectronics and semiconductor physics. Her project has progressed to the manufacturing of a GaN power integrated circuit. Around 40 samples were produced at an estimated cost of about €35,000, a cost covered by Accent Plus after a selection process, Pozo explained.

Designing for the available process: reworking and reorganizing traditional topologies

Pozo’s contribution is not simply the use of GaN. It also involves developing a circuit architecture that works with the devices and manufacturing process available to her team.

The process design kit (PDK), the set of models and rules that guides design for a specific manufacturing process, did not provide the complementary logic commonly used in silicon circuits. It was therefore not enough to replace the transistors in a silicon design with GaN ones. Pozo developed topologies compatible with the available GaN platform, which did not offer complementary P-type transistors. According to the research summary, her design is based on enhancement-mode p-GaN devices.

Before sending the design for manufacturing, Pozo worked on the layout: the physical arrangement of the circuit’s components and connections. She then ran post-layout simulations, which account for the effects of the layout and help estimate how the manufactured circuit might behave. In GaN, she explained, parasitic effects can cause a design that works in the initial schematic to stop working once its physical layout is taken into account.

The chip integrates three power devices and auxiliary circuits, including three gate drivers that control the transistors’ turn-on and turn-off, three comparators, two latch circuits, two current-sensing circuits, one overcurrent-protection circuit, and two short-circuit-protection logic circuits, among others. The goal is monolithic integration, thus, bringing the power devices and auxiliary control and protection circuits together on a single chip.

Pozo describes the device’s current design as being at integration level 3. The next step would be to add more control functions to the same chip and move towards level 4. This integration goal is distinct from packaging. The manufactured chip still needs suitable packaging to protect it and make it easier to connect within a system.

By integrating several functions on a single chip, Pozo’s design aims to reduce connections and parasitic effects that can affect switching and cause energy losses. Improvements in the efficiency of power-supply systems could be relevant to data centers, whose electricity consumption is growing. In Canada, for example, data centers accounted for around 2.1% of national electricity consumption in 2023, and demand in Quebec is expected to increase by 4.1 TWh between 2023 and 2032. However, any potential energy savings from the design will need to be verified through testing in a converter and after all integration stages are completed.

From the lab to initial testing

After receiving the samples, Pozo needed to connect them to a board for testing. At Universidad San Francisco de Quito, she designed a printed circuit board and adapted the contacts for wire bonding.

The available machine could work with gold wires approximately 20 to 25 micrometres thick. Much thicker aluminum wires might be needed for higher currents. Pozo managed to connect the samples, but specialized packaging remains a challenge.

Characterization also requires equipment suited to the device’s electrical range. Pozo carried out static tests, which include voltage and current measurements, at the GeePs laboratory in France because the equipment available in Ecuador could not reach the required values. At the time of the interview, she was conducting dynamic characterization to evaluate switching. Testing the chip in a converter under a real load would be a later step.

Potential applications

The research is geared towards developing DC-DC converters for solar-energy systems. Designed to operate at 1 MHz, the microchip could make it possible to reduce the size of the converter’s passive components. According to the research summary, the design is intended to handle up to 200 W of continuous power and withstand pulses of up to 200 V and 10 A. These capabilities still need to be assessed through experimental characterization and system testing.

Pozo also says her research could have applications in a range of electrical equipment, including data centers. However, she estimates that adapting and implementing the technology in data centers would require several years of reliability testing and compliance with the relevant standards.

Who can take part in the race to manufacture GaN power chips?

Pozo’s career raises a question that goes beyond a single chip: what infrastructure, partnerships, and access to manufacturing processes are needed for more countries to design, integrate, package, and scale their own microchips? Her project highlights both the potential for developing technology in Ecuador and the obstacles to doing so.

In her case, those obstacles include access to specialized packaging, measurement equipment, commercial design tools, funding, and academic or industry partners. Because some of this infrastructure is unavailable in Ecuador, certain tests require collaboration and travel abroad. Pozo also stresses the importance of strengthening specialized education and creating the conditions needed to sustain research and industry in Ecuador and Latin America.

Outside the lab

Outside the lab, Pozo has spent more than a decade bringing science to rural communities through activities involving robotics, programming, and electrical installations. She has also worked with students on therapeutic support prototypes for children and adolescents with multiple disabilities. The prototypes were delivered to schools in Píllaro, Ecuador.

Over the past 10 years, more than 2,000 children from rural cantons in Ecuador have taken part in her inclusive STEM education activities. In 2026, her education project trained 120 direct beneficiaries, and that number is projected to double by 2027.

Support the research

Nataly Pozo’s microchip needs specialized packaging before it can undergo further testing and its capabilities can be assessed. This stage requires companies, laboratories, and partners able to contribute expertise, equipment, or funding. If you work in GaN semiconductor packaging or power electronics, or would like to support this research, contact Nataly Pozo, PhD, at nataly.pozov@ieee.org or through her LinkedIN profile.

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