Building Blocks for GaN Power Switches
December 28, 2015 | AIP.orgEstimated reading time: 4 minutes
A team of engineers from Cornell University, the University of Notre Dame and the semiconductor company IQE has created gallium nitride (GaN) power diodes capable of serving as the building blocks for future GaN power switches — with applications spanning nearly all electronics products and electricity distribution infrastructures.
Power semiconductor devices are a critical part of the energy infrastructure — all electronics rely on them to control or convert electrical energy. Silicon-based semiconductors are rapidly approaching their performance limits within electronics, so materials such as GaN are being explored as potential replacements that may render silicon switches obsolete.
But along with having many desirable features as a material, GaN is notorious for its defects and reliability issues. So the team zeroed in on devices based on GaN with record-low defect concentrations to probe GaN’s ultimate performance limits for power electronics. They describe their results in a paper in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing.
“Our engineering goal is to develop inexpensive, reliable, high-efficiency switches to condition electricity — from where it’s generated to where it’s consumed within electric power systems — to replace generations-old, bulky, and inefficient technologies,” said Zongyang Hu, a postdoc working in Professor Grace Huili Xing’s research group within the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University. “GaN-based power devices are enabling technologies to achieve this goal.”
The team examined semiconductor p-n junctions, made by joining p-type (free holes) and n-type (free electrons) semiconductor materials, which have direct applications in solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), rectifiers in circuits, and numerous variations in more complex devices such as power transistors. “For our work, high-voltage p-n junction diodes are used to probe the material properties of GaN,” Hu explained.
To describe how much the device’s current-voltage characteristics deviate from the ideal case in a defect-free semiconductor system, the team uses a “diode ideality factor.” This is “an extremely sensitive indicator of the bulk defects, interface and surface defects, and resistance of the device,” he added.
Defects exist within all materials, but at varying levels. “So one parameter we used to effectively describe the defect level in a material is the Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination lifetime,” Hu said.
Page 1 of 2
Suggested Items
ZESTRON Academy Launches 2024 Advanced Packaging & Power Electronics Webinar Series
05/01/2024 | ZESTRONZESTRON, the leading global provider of high-precision cleaning products, services, and training solutions in the electronics manufacturing and semiconductor industries, proudly announces the launch of its highly anticipated webinar series on Advanced Packaging & Power Electronics, a webinar series on the latest innovations, cleaning, and corrosion challenges.
NextFlex Convenes the Hybrid Electronics Community at Binghamton University
05/01/2024 | NextFlexBinghamton University hosted the NextFlex hybrid electronics community on April 18 for a day of expert presentations, breakout sessions on technology and manufacturing topics, and networking.
HQ NextPCB of HQ Electronics Debut on the International Stage for Electronics Manufacture at IPC APEX 2024
05/01/2024 | PRNewswireHQ NextPCB of HQ Electronics, a leading Chinese-based multilayer PCB manufacturer and assembly house showcased its industrial prowess on the international stage for the first time at the IPC APEX Expo 2024.
GPV’s Q1 2024 Interim Financial Report Shows Strong Navigation in Uncertain Times
05/01/2024 | GPVDanish-based GPV recorded an expected drop in sales to DKK 2.3 billion for the first quarter of 2024. The decline also affected the operating profit, which was DKK 155 million compared to DKK 179 million in the same quarter last year, although the EBITDA margin was maintained. In general, demand has been softer in 2024, but GPV continues to invest for the long-term and expects the trend to turn in the second half of 2024.
All-Inclusive: PRIDE Industries Helps Employees With Disabilities to Succeed
05/01/2024 | Sandy Gentry, IPCPRIDE Industries is the leading employer of people with disabilities and those with other barriers to employment in the United States, including veterans and former foster youth. The company offers job training, placement, on-the-job coaching, and skills development for independent living. It has held IPC membership since 2000. Read more about this unique business and its connection to the electronics manufacturing industry.