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Performance and Reliability of Wide Bandgap Semiconductor and Nano Device-Based Circuits for Energy Systems

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A: Sustainable Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2021) | Viewed by 12789

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
Interests: electric power conversion, medium to high voltage power electronics (HVDC and STATCOM), general power electronic converter design (topology, controller design, magnetics), resonant converters and high power density design, power semiconductor evaluation (SiC and GaN) and reliability assessment, aerospace power conversion systems, electric vehicle motor drives, solid state transformer design, and power electronics in microgrid applications

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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
Interests: compound semiconductor materials and devices – including GaAs, InP, GaN and SiC; high speed integrated circuits; InP HBT ICs and optoelectronics; electronic power conversion; nanoelectronics; microelectronic IC fabrication and translation to pilot production

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy systems are rapidly moving toward the adoption of wide-bandgap semiconductor (WBG) devices for improved performance and/or environmental robustness in traditional power electronics applications.  Such applications include power conversion in grid energy management, electric vehicles, and space/military platforms as well as newly emerging areas in wireless energy transfer/charging, energy storage, data center efficiency, and high density power conversion.  Growing interest is seen from manufacturer and government investments in the utilization of SiC, GaN semiconductors, and more recently Ga2O3, are being developed in a variety of device structures in both a horizontal and vertical fashion. With the advantageous capabilities offered by these semiconductors, increased demands are being placed on their operation/performance; thus device and circuit reliability represent critical criteria in their adoption into real systems.

This Special Issue aims to collect original research and review articles that relate reliability and performance for WBG semiconductor devices (of various materials and device structures) and circuits (or various topologies and operating domains) in energy systems.  Additionally, submissions are sought that describe the standards that these technologies should meet for specific application areas.

Dr. Brandon Grainger
Prof. William E. Stanchina
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • power electronics
  • reliability
  • wide bandgap semiconductor
  • GaN
  • SiC
  • Ga2O3
  • semiconductor
  • nanoelectronic device
  • power conversion circuit
  • environmental robustness
  • electric grid
  • electric vehicle
  • space power conversion
  • military power conversion

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1248 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Instability Behavior and Mechanism of E-Mode GaN Power HEMT with p-GaN Gate under Off-State Gate Bias Stress
by Surya Elangovan, Edward Yi Chang and Stone Cheng
Energies 2021, 14(8), 2170; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082170 - 13 Apr 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4134
Abstract
In this study, we investigate the degradation characteristics of E-mode GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) with a p-GaN gate by designed pulsed and prolonged negative gate (VGS) bias stress. Device transfer and transconductance, output, and gate-leakage characteristics were studied in [...] Read more.
In this study, we investigate the degradation characteristics of E-mode GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) with a p-GaN gate by designed pulsed and prolonged negative gate (VGS) bias stress. Device transfer and transconductance, output, and gate-leakage characteristics were studied in detail, before and after each pulsed and prolonged negative VGS bias stress. We found that the gradual degradation of electrical parameters, such as threshold voltage (VTH) shift, on-state resistance (RDS-ON) increase, transconductance max (Gm, max) decrease, and gate leakage current (IGS-Leakage) increase, is caused by negative VGS bias stress time evolution and magnitude of stress voltage. The significance of electron trapping effects was revealed from the VTH shift or instability and other parameter degradation under different stress voltages. The degradation mechanism behind the DC characteristics could be assigned to the formation of hole deficiency at p-GaN region and trapping process at the p-GaN/AlGaN hetero-interface, which induces a change in the electric potential distribution at the gate region. The design and application of E-mode GaN with p-GaN gate power devices still need such a reliability investigation for significant credibility. Full article
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14 pages, 6661 KiB  
Article
Non-Contact Degradation Evaluation for IGBT Modules Using Eddy Current Pulsed Thermography Approach
by Xingliang Liu, Guiyun Tian, Yu Chen, Haoze Luo, Jian Zhang and Wuhua Li
Energies 2020, 13(10), 2613; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13102613 - 21 May 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3183
Abstract
In this paper, a non-contact degradation evaluation method for insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules is proposed based on eddy current pulsed thermography approach. In non-contact heat excitation procedures, a high-power induction heater is introduced to generate heat excitation in IGBT modules. The [...] Read more.
In this paper, a non-contact degradation evaluation method for insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules is proposed based on eddy current pulsed thermography approach. In non-contact heat excitation procedures, a high-power induction heater is introduced to generate heat excitation in IGBT modules. The thermographs of the whole temperature mapping are recorded non-invasively by an IR camera. As a result, the joint degradation of IGBT modules can be evaluated by the transient thermal response curves derived from the recorded thermographs. Firstly, the non-destructive evaluation principle of the eddy current pulsed thermography (ECPT) system for an IGBT module with a heat sink is introduced. A 3D simulation module is built with physical parameters in ANSYS simulations, and then thermal propagation behavior considering the degradation impact is investigated. An experimental ECPT system is set up to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental results show that the delay time to peak temperature can be extracted and treated as an effective indicative feature of joint degradation. Full article
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Review

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20 pages, 9530 KiB  
Review
The Road to a Robust and Affordable SiC Power MOSFET Technology
by Hema Lata Rao Maddi, Susanna Yu, Shengnan Zhu, Tianshi Liu, Limeng Shi, Minseok Kang, Diang Xing, Suvendu Nayak, Marvin H. White and Anant K. Agarwal
Energies 2021, 14(24), 8283; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14248283 - 9 Dec 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4588
Abstract
This article provides a detailed study of performance and reliability issues and trade-offs in silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs. The reliability issues such as threshold voltage variation across devices from the same vendor, instability of threshold voltage under positive and negative gate bias, [...] Read more.
This article provides a detailed study of performance and reliability issues and trade-offs in silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs. The reliability issues such as threshold voltage variation across devices from the same vendor, instability of threshold voltage under positive and negative gate bias, long-term reliability of gate oxide, screening of devices with extrinsic defects by means of gate voltage, body diode degradation, and short circuit withstand time are investigated through testing of commercial devices from different vendors and two-dimensional simulations. Price roadmap and foundry models of SiC MOSFETs are discussed. Future development of mixed-mode CMOS circuits with high voltage lateral MOSFETs along with 4−6× higher power handling capability compared to silicon circuits has been described. Full article
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