Wide-Bandgap Semis

March 2019
When Grounds are Separated

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How should you proceed with a switching regulator with an analog ground (AGND) and a power ground (PGND)? This is a question asked by many developers designing a switching power supply. Some developers are accustomed to dealing with a digital GND and an analog GND; however, their experience frequently fails th
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Date:
03/31/2019
Are you SiC of Silicon? - Part 1

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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
The Industry's Highest-Current GaN Power Transistors

The GaN Systems GS-065-150-1-D.

OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada – GaN Systems announced the industry’s highest current  650 V GaN E-HEMTs with the addition of the 150 A, 650 V (GS-065-150-1-D) and the  80 A, 650 V (GS-065-080-1-D) to its line of GaN power transistors. In particular, the 150 A, 650 V transistor is unmatched on both current (8
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Date:
03/27/2019
SiC MOSFETs for Rapid-Growth Applications
ANAHEIM, CA – ON Semiconductor has introduced two new silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET devices. The industrial grade NTHL080N120SC1 and AEC-Q101 automotive grade NVHL080N120SC1 bring the enabling, wide-ranging performance benefits of wide band gap technology to important high growth end application areas such as Autom
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Date:
03/26/2019
High-Accuracy Current Transducer Measures up to 1200Arms
Taastrup, Denmark...Danisense announced the DM1200, a high-accuracy current transducer capable of measuring signals up to 1200Arms and 1500A DC. Specifically targeting the eV and heV markets which requires higher power converters that can be rapidly-charged, the DM1200 also features a large, 45mm diameter aperture wh
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Date:
03/25/2019
Bi-Directional Regenerative Supply Packs 30KW in 4U Chassis
San Diego, CA — Elektro-Automatik announces the EA-PSB 10000 30KW Programmable Bi-directional Power Supply. The 4U rack-mounted PSB 10000, engineered with advanced SiC power conversion devices switching at 150 kHz, boasts the industry’s best power density—requiring as little as half the rack space for the
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Date:
03/21/2019
The Industry's Largest Line of Automotive-Grade SiC MOSFETs
Kyoto and Santa Clara, Calif. – ROHM announced the addition of 10 new automotive-grade SiC MOSFETs. The introduction of the SCT3xxxxxHR series allows ROHM to offer the industry's largest lineup of AEC-Q101 qualified SiC MOSFETs that provide the high reliability necessary for automotive on board chargers and DC/D
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Date:
03/20/2019
UnitedSiC announces SiC JFET family for low power  AC-DC Flyback converters

SiC JFETs for Low Power AC/DC Flyback Converters

March 19, 2019, Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) Anaheim CA, and Princeton,New Jersey: UnitedSiC, a manufacturer of silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors, today announced it has released a range of SiC JFET die suitable for co-packaging with a controller IC with built in low voltage MOSFET to fa
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Date:
03/20/2019
650V SiC Schottky Diodes with Current Ratings from 6A to 40A
CHICAGO — Littelfuse, Inc. introduced two additions to its expanding line of second-generation, 650V, AEC-Q101-qualified silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky Diodes. Both series offer power electronics system designers a variety of performance advantages over traditional silicon-based devices, including negligible reverse
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Date:
03/19/2019
UnitedSiC announces strategic investment by Analog Devices

Chris Dries, President and CEO at UnitedSiC

March 18, 2019, Princeton, New Jersey and Norwood, Massachusetts: UnitedSiC, a manufacturer of silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors, today announced a strategic investment and long-term supply agreement from Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI).  Terms of the investment and supply agreement were not announced.
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Date:
03/18/2019
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
APEC Brings Wide-Bandgap Devices into Focus
I don’t have to tell you, dear reader, how vital wide-bandgap semiconductors are to this industry. If you haven’t encountered them on your workbench or heard our PSDcast with PowerAmerica, a DoE institute tasked with promoting wide-bandgap devices, you’ll deal with them ad nauseum at the Applied Power Electronics Confer
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Date:
03/12/2019
Normally-ON SiC JFETs – Characteristics and Applications

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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
Taking the Heat Out of Wide-Bandgap Designs

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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
Wide-Bandgap Technology Gathers Pace
It barely feels we are past the Christmas holidays and yet here we are looking forward to the start of the exhibition season. Even although it’s only March, my colleagues in the US are currently gearing up for the biggest show of the year in that region. APEC sets the tone for the whole year in the power industry an
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Date:
03/11/2019
The Calm Before the Wide-Bandgap Storm
Last month, we did a PSDcast with PowerAmerica, a Department of Energy institute tasked with accelerating the commercialization of wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors. And with the Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC) right around the corner (or closer, depending on when you read this), we’
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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
Myth or Reality?

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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
Qualifying SiC Devices to Industrial and Auto Standards

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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
PSDcast - Getting Women Interested in STEM

Dr. Isabel Yang, CTO of Advanced Energy

In this episode of the PSDcast, we're celebrating Women's History Month by addressing the gender imbalance in STEM and what can be done to attract more women to the engineering fields. Dr. Isabel Yang, the CTO of Advanced Energy, provides some fascinating insights ...
Date:
03/08/2019
Wide Bandgap Semiconductors and Packaging - it’s happening

Kevin Parmenter, Field Applications Manger, Taiwan Semiconductor

The promise of wide bandgap semiconductors (WBG) are higher switching frequency and higher operating temperatures perhaps smaller sizes, greater efficiencies and perhaps higher reliability, less size, less cooling – no fans for example, smaller heatsinks, smaller capacitors, less weight and overall better pe
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Date:
03/08/2019
Han ES Press HMC connector range allows fast installation
The new Han ES Press HMC (High Mating Cycles) connector series from HARTING combines the facility to be installed quickly without tools with extremely robust construction that allows the devices to handle at least 10,000 mating cycles. The quick connect technology used in the Han ES Press HMC involves the con
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Date:
03/06/2019
Industry’s first automotive USB 3.1 SmartHub supports Type-C
Microchip announces an automotive-qualified USB 3.1 Gen1 SmartHub IC, offering up to 10 times faster data rates over existing USB 2.0 solutions and reducing indexing times to improve the user experience in vehicles. To support the rising adoption of USB Type-C in the smartphone market and enable universal conne
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Date:
03/06/2019
Accelerating GaN-on-Silicon Support for 5G Wireless Networks
MACOM and STMicroelectronics today announced the 2019 expansion of 150mm GaN-on-Silicon production capacity in ST’s fabs, and 200mm as demand requires. The expansion is designed to service the worldwide 5G Telecom buildout. This builds upon the broad GaN-on-Silicon agreement between MACOM and ST announced in earl
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Date:
03/06/2019
New SCALE-iDriver SiC-MOSFET Gate Driver
Power Integrations announced the SIC1182K SCALE-iDriver, a high-efficiency, single-channel SiC MOSFET gate driver that delivers the highest peak output gate current available without an external boost stage. Devices can be configured to support different gate-drive voltage requirements matching the range of requi
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Date:
03/06/2019
50-Watt, High Current Density, Non-isolated Digital DC-DC Modules
Artesyn Embedded Technologies today announced the LGA50D dc-dc module, which offers one of the highest current density ratings in the industry. With a footprint of just 1 x 0.5 inches or 25.4 x 12.5mm, this innovative non-isolated unit offers two independent and configurable 25 amp, 50 watt outputs, which can
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Date:
03/06/2019
 Reenvision Inductor Operation to Optimize New Applications

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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