Technical Features
March 2019
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Figure 1: Gate driver circuit diagram with a Bourns transformer
While gate driver-based converters deliver improved efficiency, speed and signal integrity, their high frequency switching features can produce elevated levels of conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI), posing challenges to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and overall system reliability. To solve this
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Date:
03/29/2026
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Anup Bhalla, Ph.D., Vice President Engineering, UnitedSiC
SiC applications began in the 2000s with the adoption of SiC JBS diodes into PFC applications. This was followed by the use of SiC diodes and FETs in the PV industry. But the recent surge in applications relating to EV On-board chargers and DC-DC converters is driving SiC growth. The nascent adoption in the EV
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Date:
03/31/2019
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Figure 1. Welding in Automotive Assembly Line
Sensors are ubiquitous in the electrically harsh industrial environment (Figure 1). As they increase in sophistication and shrink in size, they become more complex, requiring on-board switching regulators to deliver power more efficiently for minimal heat generation. How do you safely deliver low-voltage power to
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Date:
03/30/2019
For the better part of this decade, power electronics technologists have been enabling new topologies with GaN (gallium nitride) transistors. Similarly, system innovators have been creating new levels of performance in electric and autonomous vehicles, industrial machines, televisions, laptop adapters, data ce
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Date:
03/12/2019
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Figure 1. Basic JFET operation
Many think that Shockley invented the ‘transistor’, which he announced at a press conference on July 4th 1951. His Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) was certainly a momentous achievement, with the basic design still surviving today. Shockley, however, also had ideas about transistors using an electric fiel
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Date:
03/11/2019
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Figure 1: The GaN-on-Si wide bandgap HEMT structure
The demand for higher power density in many applications is driving the development of wide bandgap semiconductors. Compared to standard power transistors based on silicon, devices based on wide bandgap (WBG) materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) or gallium nitride (GaN) offer significant benefits. High electron mo
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Date:
03/11/2019
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Figure 1: Block diagram of an electric vehicle controller
New vehicle models with electric motors are automobile manufacturers’ lighthouse projects, even more so against the background of current arguments about combustion engines or, more specifically, diesel engines.
In close alignment with policy makers, manufacturers are offering premiums to tempt buyers. V
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Date:
03/11/2019
Image 1: Structural chemical formula and molecular structure of Dibutyl phthalate(DBP) – Source PRBX/Orange Deer studio
As specified in the European Directive 2015/863 dated 22nd of July 2019, electronic equipment manufacturers will have to comply with the third revision of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), referenced as RoHS 3. All categories of electrical and electronic equipment are affected except medical devices and
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Date:
03/11/2019
In my 40 years’ experience in power semiconductors, I have visited thousands of customers, big and small, on every continent except Antarctica. When the issue invariably turns to the packaging of the power semiconductor – transistor, diode, or integrated circuit – the requests for improvement fall in
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Date:
03/11/2019
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Figure 1: Reliability Bathtub Curve
2012 marked the long-awaited arrival of 600 V+ Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistors. Having already begun to make a mark in low-voltage applications, the wide-bandgap semiconductor material was expected to bring to high voltage (HV) power systems all of its inherent benefits: faster switching, higher power density, co
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Date:
03/11/2019
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Figure 1: RUIS test setup and waveforms for the current and the voltage during a UIS pulse.
A recent trend in the semiconductor market is the widespread adoption of silicon carbide (SiC) devices, including both Schottky barrier diodes (SBD) and power MOSFETs, for industrial and automotive applications. At the same time, the long-term reliability of these devices is a hot topic that should be addressed si
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Date:
03/11/2019
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Figure 1: Core material performance curves
What do new applications need in order to take advantage of new devices like wide band-gap semiconductors? They need the best inductors. And what is the best inductor for your application? Answering that requires proper characterization of the inductors, which is more than can be conveniently obtained fr
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Date:
03/01/2019
