Fairchild's Environmentally Friendly Power

Author:
Dan Kinzer, VP Product & Technology, Fairchild Semiconductor

Date
12/10/2010

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Dan Kinzer, VP Product & Technology, Fairchild Semiconductor

By Dan Kinzer Considering the challenging economic conditions ahead of us, this is a good time to consider what we can do collectively and individually to spark renewed economic growth. One way is to enable clean, low cost energy generation and to improve energy conservation. Power management semiconductor suppliers are well-positioned in that we are the enablers of energy-efficient electronics. Our products are critical for the expansion of alternative energy technologies such as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric power in various forms. We have the technology at our disposal to dramatically lower the power consumption of households, businesses, and industry with more efficient appliances, air conditioning, lighting, computing, entertainment, communications, and motors of all kinds. There is also a transformation underway in our means of transportation, with a move away from combustible fuels to electrical energy as the cleanest source of power. No industry has driven more dramatic change in our lifestyles, our productivity, and our standard of living than the semiconductor industry. We will continue to do so in the information technology and consumer electronics field, but the impact we can have in coming years through improvements in the cost, accessibility, and efficient use of energy resources could be even more significant. The calls for clean, renewable sources of energy have been growing continuously louder as it is more obvious every day that global climate change caused by human activity is reality. Why haven't we heard the call for conservation and energy efficient systems with the same fierce intensity? There is certainly progress and increased awareness. It just isn't enough. Part of the reason is the stigma created by the perception that conservation means doing without. It doesn't have to be. In fact, the opposite is often really the case. It has been shown that the investment required to cut energy use though more efficient electronic systems is a small fraction of the investment to generate that excess power, without the negative effects on the atmosphere and the environment. We should support large scale infrastructure investments in solar and wind power, no doubt. Meanwhile, we should also make sure a proportional investment is going into advanced power electronic technology to convert the raw power generated into usable forms. We should also work to create a favorable environment for small scale distributed power generators, on the scale of homes, farms, and commercial buildings. Then we should create more incentives to improve the energy efficiency of the lighting, environmental control, convenience, and entertainment features of those same users of power. Semiconductor suppliers need to continue to innovate in areas that can put less of a burden on the power grid. A prime example is lighting. Incandescent lighting simply needs to be a thing of the past as quickly as possible. An average incandescent bulb's efficiency is 15 lumens/Watt and 1,000 lifetime hours whereas LEDs offer as high as 50 lumens/Watt and 50,000 lifetime hours. The high brightness LED itself is a semiconductor product enabled by advanced technology in the wide bandgap compound semiconductor field of Gallium Nitride and Silicon Carbide. Even the common fluorescent lamp is environmentally unfriendly with the gas it contains. Eventually, even linear fluorescent tube lighting will be completely replaced by semiconductor technologies. LED and other efficient lighting technologies such as compact fluorescent lamps are powered with efficient semiconductor based power supplies using the latest power switching and control chips. Fairchild's new SuperFET™ and SuperMOS™ technologies, sometimes referred to as "charge balance" or "superjunction" technology is making these supplies smaller, less expensive, and more efficient. Improved processes and device designs for integrating power devices and control circuits are in development and becoming available that enable the fully integrated "power supply on a chip" for the 5-20W power range of these applications. Ordinary appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, and fans are achieving higher levels of efficiency through semiconductor technology. In these and other common motion applications, the common AC induction constant speed motor needs to be eliminated, to be replaced with variable speed permanent magnet DC motors and electronic drives. The gains in efficiency are staggering, sometimes cutting losses that were once as much as the power delivered, 50% efficiency, to less than 10% of the power delivered, or 90% efficient, due to the ability to optimize the motor speed for the application and load. Improved power Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors and Ultrafast Recovery Diodes make a lot of this possible. Advanced laser annealing techniques, ultrathin silicon wafers, and radiation to improve switching performance are several techniques that are enabling reductions in energy waste. New technologies are in development that combine these two components on a single chip, and lower the losses. The inevitable power loss generates heat that is best managed with advanced "Smart Power Modules." These make use of continuing developments in "system-in-a-package" technology that keeps the system cool and efficiently interconnected with minimum power loss and electromagnetic interference with other electronics. Society has now recognized the need to change the way we live. Consumers are picking up the mantle of green and doing their part to reduce their environmental footprint. Governmental agencies and interest groups such as ENERGY STAR®, Green Grid™ and Climate Savers™ are initiating stringent energy-efficiency specifications to lessen the burden on the power grid and batteries. Since most of these measures involve electronics, semiconductor suppliers are vital in seeing that OEMs can meet specifications and consumers can purchase electronics that optimize power. And all of the alternative technologies are harnessing the power of the sun and wind to create one of the cleanest forms of energy - electricity. In all of this, semiconductor suppliers can make a tremendous difference. Author: Dan Kinzer VP Product & Technology Fairchild Semiconductor www.fairchildsemi.com

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