Power Semiconductors

July 2021
Rugged Silicon Carbide Power Solutions Available at 1700V
Today’s energy-efficient electric charging systems powering commercial vehicle propulsion, as well as auxiliary power systems, solar inverters, solid-state transformers and other transportation and industrial applications all rely on high-voltage switching power devices. To meet these requirements, Microchip Te
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Date:
07/27/2021
New motor control software boosts BridgeSwitch ICs
Electric motors are responsible for using a huge portion of the electricity we generate. Some estimates put that figure almost half of global energy consumption. As such, it makes sense to have the motors driven as efficiently as possible, for the user to save costs, for the supplier who won’t face so large deman
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Date:
07/23/2021
Benefits of Digital Switching in Programmable AC Power Sources

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Figure 1. Conventional AC power source topology

Programmable AC power sources have been widely used to implement and support numerous product test procedures over the years. They provide the test engineer with the ability to fully control voltage, frequency, and current to the unit under test (UUT). Products like these are used to simulate various power conditions an
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Date:
07/19/2021
1500V Power Module Doubles Up for Both Solar and Storage Use
This is partly due to packaging requirements and partly due to the bespoke requirements for individual use cases. This drives up the cost of components for high-power applications as there is very little economy of scale. Infineon has tried to buck this trend somewhat with its new EasyPACK CoolSiC MOSFET module that
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Date:
07/16/2021
Murata Announces Latest SiCap Offering
Murata has announced its extended product offering for the mobile and high-performance computing (HPC) markets with the launch of its latest silicon process technology to fabricate silicon capacitors with a density of 1.3µF/mm². The devices’ extremely low ESL and ESR support the highest performances of
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Date:
07/14/2021
Sager Electronics Ships Vox Power's Conduction-Cooled Power Supply
Sager Electronics is now stocking Vox Power’s VCCS300 series of conduction-cooled AC/DC power supplies. The silent 300W series produces continuous output power in just a 2”x 4” x 1.61” package. The all-in-one solution can be cooled using conduction, convection, or forced air cooling technique
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Date:
07/08/2021
Expanded Lineup of Load Switch ICs with Ideal Diode Function
Torex Semiconductor Ltd. has launched a load switch IC with ideal diode function – the XC8110/XC8111 series. The XC8110/XC8111 series are load switch ICs that reproduce ideal diodes, and equipped with functions including chip enable (CE), over current limit, inrush current limit,
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Date:
07/05/2021
Space, but not as we know it - the new space race
Designing for space applications used to be really difficult and very expensive. At the beginning of our exploration of space, spacecraft and satellites cost a huge amount of money, which at that time meant that only the largest companies and government organisations could afford to put manned vehicles and satellit
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Date:
07/01/2021
Würth Expands Popular Transformer Series
This series of parts can be used in a host of push-pull and pulse transformer applications, and is found on dozens of reference designs.   The four parts added to the MID-PPTI series include 750317828, 750317829, 750317830, and 750317331; all which are AEC-Q200 qualified, and include and isolation vol
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Date:
07/01/2021
ROHM’s New 80V Withstand 5A Output Power Supply ICs
Recent years have seen evolving markets of battery-driven applications and advanced industrial equipment such as 5G base stations and factory automation systems equipped with new functions utilizing IoT. This demands power supply ICs that are not only compact and operate at high efficiency, but also deliver lar
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Date:
07/01/2021
TRENCHSTOP 5 WR6 family in TO-247-3-HCC housing
The family comes in a TO-247-3-HCC package and offers a broad portfolio comprising 20 A, 30 A, 40 A, 50 A, 60 A and 70 A current ratings. The devices can easily be used for replacing previous technologies like Infineon’s TRENCHSTOP 5 WR5 and HighSpeed 3 H3 as well as competitor technologies. The family is optimi
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Date:
07/01/2021
Active Rectifier Controller w/ Ultrafast Transient Response

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Figure 1. Rectification of input ripple

Automotive standards, such as ISO 16750 or LV124, specify that automotive electronic control units (ECUs) may face a supply with a superimposed ac ripple of up to 6 V p-p at up to 30 kHz. Devices such as the LT8672’s gate driver, which controls th
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Date:
07/01/2021
When a Visual Power-Fail Indication is Not Enough

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Figure 1: Typical factory communication system using Ethernet and Fieldbus

To meet the requirements of Industry 4.0 and smart production, digital communication between machines, sensors and host systems is essential.  Even simple applications need the ability to control and monitor the manufacturing process in real time using software and the internet. Standard power supplies wi
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Date:
07/01/2021
The Origins and Evolution of SiC FETs

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Figure 1: Si, SiC and GaN material characteristics

A basic building block in power conversion electronics is the semiconductor switch. The ideal is one with no static or dynamic losses that can withstand high voltage in the off state and with no leakage when on – but that is always just out of reach. One of the closest though is the wide band-gap technology Si
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Date:
07/01/2021
Why Power Supply Requirements Don't Need to Be a Design Restriction

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Figure 1: There are many choices when it comes to selecting the right plug for your external power adapter (Source: CUI)

New product features tend to have a direct impact on the total power needed, which may mean increasing the capacity of dc-dc converters or increasing the number of regulators distributed throughout the design. Ultimately, feature-creep will also put greater demand on the main source of power.  Engineers responsib
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Date:
07/01/2021
Using Old Semiconductor Structures to Advance the Low Power High Speed ESD Protection Market

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Figure 1. On the left is the TSPD functional model and, on the right, a TVS diode

With low-power, high-speed data systems, standard TVS diodes are commonly used in combination with low capacitance diodes to reduce the parasitic capacitance in applications like HDMI 2.0, USB 3.1, and Gigabit Ethernet. TVS diodes have offered the smallest form factors possible without sacrificing performance. Bu
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Date:
07/01/2021
BLDC-Based Cordless Power Tools Offer Longer Run Times and a Better User Experience

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Figure 1. Three-phase BLDC motor drive overview

Introduction Cordless power tools are becoming increasingly popular in professional and DIY usage due to their ease of use, portability, and increased safety over mains-powered tools. With the inclusion of brushless DC (BLDC) motors, they are now suitable for most tasks. However, manufacturers are being chal
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Date:
07/01/2021