GaN Class D amps are already outdated, it's time for GaN on Diamond!


The title is a bit of a troll for everyone who kept saying that Class D wouldn't be high-end until GaN transistors appeared.

But the truth is advanced GaN transistors on diamond substrates may be coming soon, further elevating the switching speed and power efficiency.

Will they sound better?  Meh, I like early 21st century Class D. :)

 

erik_squires

@jaymark You are most likely correct. I thought it was interesting that the semiconductor industry has been playing around with synthetic precious gems since the late 1950’s. There was a recent article about HP using silicon on sapphire technology for floppy disk controllers, with a ridiculously low chip yield of 9% (i.e. 91% of the chips didn’t pass basic quality testing).