聽說過氮化鎵晶體管嗎,？你一定是在有關(guān)車載激光雷達(dá)的文章中看到這個生僻詞的,。但它在無人駕駛汽車中發(fā)揮的至關(guān)重要的作用。

未來的自動駕駛汽車將依賴于激光傳感技術(shù),，而該技術(shù)的基礎(chǔ)則在于新型非硅高速晶體管和芯片,。

上述觀點來自斯坦福大學(xué)物理學(xué)博士、創(chuàng)業(yè)家艾利克斯?利多（Alex Lidow）,，他同時擔(dān)任位于加州艾爾塞貢多的高效功率轉(zhuǎn)換公司（Efficient Power Conversion,，簡稱EPC）的CEO。EPC從事的業(yè)務(wù)是：采用比硅的運算速度更快,、效率更高,，但成本卻較低的材料制造晶體管和芯片。

沒錯,，硅——所有計算機的物理基礎(chǔ),，以及谷歌和蘋果等技術(shù)巨頭得以崛起的催化劑——現(xiàn)在終于出現(xiàn)了鮮為人知的競爭對手。它就是新型半導(dǎo)體材料：氮化鎵（GaN）,。由氮化鎵制造的晶體管（大量晶體管集合成芯片）具有速度快,、尺寸小、能耗低,、成本低等優(yōu)點,。

今天，整個計算機產(chǎn)業(yè)都是由硅所主導(dǎo),。然而,，對探測并處理巨量信息的能力提出嚴(yán)苛要求的自動駕駛汽車技術(shù)已經(jīng)成了氮化鎵晶體管的早期試驗田。

谷歌公司等致力于研制全自動駕駛汽車（非計算機輔助駕駛）的企業(yè)正在把目光投向激光雷達(dá)技術(shù),。激光雷達(dá)可在汽車周圍發(fā)射一束激光束,，進(jìn)而創(chuàng)建周圍環(huán)境的高分辨率3D地圖。激光地圖與攝像機和智能軟件相互協(xié)作,，足以為自動駕駛汽車提供上路自動行駛所需的全部信息,。

EPC的芯片和晶體管以極高速度發(fā)射激光束——從而使車輛能夠迅速判斷周圍物體的距離和位置，并創(chuàng)建高精確度3D地圖,。

“氮化鎵是自動駕駛汽車激光雷達(dá)系統(tǒng)的關(guān)鍵,。”利多說,。在不同應(yīng)用環(huán)境下,，氮化鎵晶體管的運算速度要比硅晶體管高100-1,000倍。須臾之間的運算速度高低就決定了自動駕駛汽車能否成功探測到周圍物體并做出有效反應(yīng),。今年早些時候，在自動駕駛模式下,，一輛沒有采用激光雷達(dá)技術(shù)的特斯拉Model S未能在晴朗天氣下探測到正在逼近的白色卡車,，造成車內(nèi)人員死亡,。

利多說，他的公司現(xiàn)在為所有采用自動駕駛激光雷達(dá)的車企供應(yīng)氮化鎵芯片或晶體管,。某些車企——例如特斯拉——沒有采用激光雷達(dá),，而是使用其他種類的雷達(dá)系統(tǒng)。

但是利多認(rèn)為,，包括特斯拉在內(nèi)的所有自動駕駛汽車都將最終采用激光雷達(dá)技術(shù),。

激光雷達(dá)過去曾經(jīng)由于價格高昂而無法用于普通汽車。第一輛谷歌地圖測繪車和自動駕駛車都曾經(jīng)采用了成本高達(dá)數(shù)萬美元,，甚至更高的激光雷達(dá)系統(tǒng),。但是今天，有多家企業(yè)正在試圖把激光雷達(dá)的成本降低到數(shù)百美元的水平,。

在晶體管科技領(lǐng)域耕耘了數(shù)十年之后,，利多于2007年創(chuàng)立了EPC公司。1977年,，他曾經(jīng)發(fā)明了能夠在不同設(shè)備之間切換電子信號的硅晶體管,。“我注意到硅的時代即將畫上句號,?！崩嗾f。利多和一位臺灣商業(yè)伙伴合伙出資創(chuàng)辦了公司,，并且擁有公司幾乎全部股份,。

2014年，利多稱EPC公司氮化鎵晶體管的生產(chǎn)成本終于實現(xiàn)了低于硅晶體管的目標(biāo),?！暗壨瑫r具備了高性能和低成本，這是歷史性的突破,?！崩嗾f。

EPC公司2016年的收入較之2015年幾乎實現(xiàn)翻倍,，有專家預(yù)計2017年的收入將達(dá)到2016年的3倍,。該公司氮化鎵晶體管業(yè)務(wù)的規(guī)模占其業(yè)務(wù)規(guī)模的15-20%，其他業(yè)務(wù)則包括用于數(shù)據(jù)中心服務(wù)器,、無人機,、無線充電、醫(yī)療設(shè)備,、無線基站等應(yīng)用領(lǐng)域的芯片和晶體管,。

隨著包括谷歌、特斯拉和蘋果（據(jù)說）在內(nèi)的科技巨頭紛紛開始發(fā)力無人駕駛汽車技術(shù),，激光雷達(dá)已經(jīng)成為當(dāng)下的熱門話題,。如雨后春筍般出現(xiàn)的初創(chuàng)公司們正在努力降低激光雷達(dá)技術(shù)的成本,，其中包括計劃將激光雷達(dá)系統(tǒng)的成本壓低到區(qū)區(qū)250美元的硅谷初創(chuàng)公司Quanergy Systems。

如果激光雷達(dá)的成本降至上述水平,，無法自動駕駛的普通汽車只需像新增一部傳感器一樣做簡單改造就可實現(xiàn)自動駕駛,。“如果成本真的降下來,，無需刻意購買自動駕駛汽車,，所有汽車都能加裝自動駕駛功能?！崩嗾f,。

利多并不想知道一個自動駕駛汽車大行其道的世界是什么樣子，他最關(guān)注的是硅退出歷史舞臺后的世界如何運轉(zhuǎn),。他在一通從南加州打來電話里說,，“硅有硅谷，氮化鎵也能創(chuàng)造只屬于自己的地名,?！?（財富中文網(wǎng)）

作者：Katie Fehrenbacher

譯者：鄭立飛

In the future, self-driving cars will require laser-based sensing tech, and these systems will need new types of high-speed transistors and chips that can beat out silicon.

That’s the assertion of Alex Lidow, a Stanford PhD physicist, entrepreneur, and CEO and founder of Efficient Power Conversion (commonly called EPC), a company based in El Segundo, Calif. that makes transistors and chips out of a material that operates more quickly and efficiently—and costs less than silicon.

Yes, silicon—the backbone of all things computing and the juice behind the rise of tech giants like Google and Apple—has a little-known competitor. It’s called gallium nitride, or GaN, and the semiconductor can create transistors (the things that go on chips) that are fast, small, energy efficient, and low cost.

While silicon has dominated computing to date, it turns out that the massive amount of information that needs to be detected and processed on the fly by self-driving cars is a perfect early application for GaN transistors.

Some companies that are looking to make fully autonomous cars (not just computer-assisted driving) like Google are relying on Lidar technology, which fires out a laser light beam around the car to create a high-resolution 3D map of the surrounding environment. That laser map combined with cameras and smart software, is enough information for a car to drive itself on a road without a human driver.

EPC’s chips and transistors fire the Lidar system’s laser at a blazing fast speed—fast enough to help the car rapidly determine the distance and placement of surrounding objects as well as to create an accurate-enough 3D map.

“GaN is crucial” for the self-driving Lidar car system, says Lidow, as it can operate 100 times—or even a 1,000 times—faster than silicon, depending on the application.

Mere seconds can mean the difference between a car detecting and reacting to an object or unfortunately not. Earlier this year, Tesla’s autonomous car tech, which doesn’t use Lidar, failed to detect a white tractor trailer driving toward a Model S against the backdrop of a bright sky. The accident resulted in a fatality.

Lidow says that his company sells GaN chips or transistors to every car company that is using Lidar for self-driving cars today. Some companies, like Tesla , rely on radar systems instead of Lidar.

But Lidow thinks all self-driving cars, even Tesla, will eventually need to adopt Lidar.

Historically, Lidar has been prohibitively expensive to use on cars. The first Google mapping vehicles and self-driving cars employed ultra-expensive Lidar systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars or more. But today, a handful of companies are trying to push the cost of Lidar systems down to as little as several hundred dollars.

Lidow founded EPC in 2007 after decades of working on transistor technology. In 1977, he invented a silicon transistor that switches electronic signals in devices. “I noticed silicon was coming to the end of its valuable life,” says Lidow. Lidow and a business partner in Taiwan funded and almost completely own the company.

By 2014, Lidow says EPC’s cost to make GaN transistors was finally lower than the cost of making silicon ones. “For the first time in history, GaNis higher-performance and lower-cost,” says Lidow.

Today, EPC almost doubled its revenue in 2016 versus 2015, and expects to triple its revenue in 2017 over this year. The company’s Lidar transistors represent between 15% to 20% of its businesses today,while chips and transistors for data center servers, drones, wireless power, medical devices, wireless base stations, and other tech make up the rest of the business.

Lidar is becoming a hot topic for tech companies as everyone from Google to Tesla to reportedly Apple race to build autonomous car tech. Startups are emerging to lower the cost of Lidar tech, like Silicon Valley startup Quanergy Systems, which is buildinga Lidar system that’s supposed to cost $250.

If Lidar can get that cheap, then regular cars—those that don’t drive themselves—could employ the tech as just a better sensor. “If it’s cheap enough, it’ll be on all cars, independent of autonomy,” says Lidow.

For Lidow, he’s not just focused on what a world with self-driving cars would look like, but more so on how the world will operate after the fall of silicon. He says, speaking on the phone from southern California, “Silicon can have its Valley, we’ll take GaN Beach.”