Bigger, sharper, brighter: Each year TV manufacturers flaunt their technological prowess at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Of late, “big screens” have been synonymous with “flat panels,” that are getting thinner and thinner. Now, some manufacturers intend to make the panel disappear altogether; a new generation of projection TVs, using lasers as light sources, made their presence felt known at CES 2017.

Laser light sources offer large, bright projections; they are longer lasting and more efficient than traditional lamps, and can be incorporated into a wide array of electronic media devices, or embedded into furniture. Due to the high depth of field of laser projectors, it is possible to project images or data onto any kind of projection surface, even non-flat.

While traditional TVs have fixed display sizes, a laser TV image scales with distance from the display surface, enabling images ranging from a typical size of 80 to 100-inches up to 140-inches in diagonal. Laser TVs can also be configured with ultra short throw optical modules allowing the product to be placed inches away from a display surface. You can take your TV on the road with you.

You can also build your own: This 4K UHD High Brightness Display Reference Design uses Texas Instruments DLP technology to project over 8 million pixels for detailed true 3840 x 2160 4K UHD imaging. At its core is a DLP chipset consisting of a high-resolution digital micromirror device (DMD), high-speed digital controller and a dedicated power management IC and motor driver. These devices can be combined with many different optical and mechanical components to meet a diverse set of performance level requirements – in TVs, digital signage or smart lighting.

The age of the hyper-scale data center is upon us, evidenced by massive data storage farms and the tens of thousands of cloud servers housed in hangar-sized buildings operated by companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon.

According to a report published by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, data centers across the United States consumed a whopping 70 billion kWh of energy in 2014.  Going forward, this installed base of servers is projected to increase by 40 percent from 2010 to 2020.

Techniques like data storage consolidation, improved cooling, the uses of power management software, and advanced hardware design, have allowed data center managers to achieve a high degree of energy efficiency, even as demand rises.

Semiconductor makers are continuously looking for new ways to increase energy efficiency and density, not just through cooling and power management techniques, but through materials and new devices that offer even further efficiencies – like increased rack density and added storage space, all without sacrificing efficiency.

Today, engineers are using new wide-bandgap devices and advanced gallium nitride (GaN) solutions to create power-conversion designs not previously possible with silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs).

GaN-based solutions fundamentally change both the architecture and density of the data center power system, from the AC to the processors. Higher switching frequencies, operating temperatures, and voltage handling capabilities of wide bandgap (WBG) gallium nitride (GaN) devices make them fundamental to any effort to reduce energy consumption. Smaller form factors further enable the emerging high-voltage distribution systems in data centers for 380V-to-48V converters.

Learn more about the future of GaN power supply design* and how this technology empowers engineers to do what was once unreachable: design new energy systems that are substantially smaller, switch faster, and run cooler than ever before.

Semiconductors manage power in electronic devices by converting, distributing, storing, discharging, isolating and measuring electrical energy. The Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that, by year 2030, eighty percent of energy flow in the U.S. will go through semiconductor devices^; clearly, semiconductors are vital contributors to a more efficient energy ecosystem

New applications have always driven innovations in semiconductor-based power management. For example, innovations in high-voltage delivery of power have been spurred by the recent growth of the electric and hybrid vehicle market and by the need to make data centers more efficient. In response, engineers have created high-voltage solutions based on the properties of Gallium Nitride (GaN) and other wide bandgap semiconductors that fundamentally change the architecture of the power systems.

Autonomous (and semi-autonomous) vehicles, wearable electronic devices, smart homes and smart factories too, are examples of new applications spawning innovations in power management.

These and other applications across the full spectrum of end markets – automotive, industrial, communications equipment, personal electronics and enterprise systems – are matched to specific semiconductor solutions on the Texas Instruments power management website. And, while matching solutions to applications is particularly useful, it is the compendium of design tools, training, technical support, reference designs and product selection tools that enable any EE with the Power to do Anything through a single resource.