Author:
Jason Lomberg, North American Editor, PSD
Date
03/01/2022
PDF
Our March issue focuses on arguably the hottest industry topic over the last several years, Wide Bandgap Technology. But first, later this month marks one of our industry’s most humble little victories over COVID-19, and that’s the Applied Power Electronics Conference’s (APEC’s) return to a fully in-person format.
APEC, of course, being the “leading conference in North America for power electronic professionals,” no exaggeration on their part, this is a truly heartwarming development for the industry, and for our publication, in particular.
As mentioned, this month’s issue deals with wide bandgap semiconductors, and the first article I’d like to call out comes courtesy of Efficient Power Conversion, and deals with the last remaining barriers to mainstream WBG acceptance.
In “Roadblocks to GaN Adoption in Power Systems,” EPC’s CEO and Co-Founder, Alex Lidow, noted how, while space applications have rapidly accepted GaN-on-Si power transistors and Lidar has flourished under gallium nitride, many designers in the areas of consumer products, computers, motor drives, and automotive devices are staying on the sidelines.
And this industry reticence makes even less sense in the era of supply chain shortages.
“Shortages have extended silicon component lead times out past 52 weeks, which adds another challenge for the designer,” Alex said. “Designing with GaN devices can help reduce these component shortages.”
The other article I’d like to mention also deals with wide bandgap’s place in the market.
Our old friend at Powerbox, Patrick Le Fèvre, mentions how, while gallium nitride and silicon carbide are quickly gaining market share, conventional MOSFET performance has improved dramatically, pushing out their eventual obsolescence and making it so that the old and the new may co-exist for a while.
That said, the “gap,” as Patrick explains, may be closing quickly.
“For all new technologies, time-to-market is inevitably a long process. Original research, patenting, technology introduction and market adoption could take over 10 years … in normal circumstances it would have been the same for the adoption of WBG, but ironically the COVID pandemic may have contributed to the speed of adoption,” Patrick said.
Interestingly, Patrick gives a nod to this month’s other shout-out, EPC, which contributed to one of WBG’s first and greatest days in the sun at APEC 2018, when they explained their idea implement GaN in LIDAR applications.
And since then, the coronavirus may have accelerated the dissemination of WBG dramatically!
Best Regards,
Jason Lomberg
North American Editor, PSD
