• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.606-611
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• 2011

Power electronics is a key technology for electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. Typical power electronics converters used in electric drive vehicles include dc/dc converters, inverters, and battery chargers. New semiconductor materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and novel topologies such as the Z-source inverter (ZSI) have a great deal of potential to improve the overall performance of these vehicles. In this paper, a Z-source inverter for fuel cell vehicle application is examined under three different scenarios. 1. a ZSI with Si IGBT modules, 2. a ZSI with hybrid modules, Si IGBTs/SiC Schottky diodes, and 3. a ZSI with SiC MOSFETs/SiC Schottky diodes. Then, a comparison of the three scenarios is conducted. Conduction loss, switching loss, reverse recovery loss, and efficiency are considered for comparison. A conclusion is drawn that the SiC devices can improve the inverter and inverter-motor efficiency, and reduce the system size and cost due to the low loss properties of SiC devices. A comparison between a ZSI and traditional PWM inverters with SiC devices is also presented in this paper. Based on this comparison, the Z-source inverter produces the highest efficiency.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2014

Silicon has been most widely used semiconductor material for power electronic systems. However, Si-based power devices have attained their working limits and there are a lot of efforts for alternative Si-based power devices for better performance. Advances in power electronics have improved the efficiency, size, weight and materials cost. New wide band gap materials such as SiC have now been introduced for high power applications. SiC power devices have been evolved from lab scale to a viable alternative to Si electronics in high-efficiency and high-power density applications. In this article, the potential impact of SiC devices for power applications will be discussed along with their Si counterpart in terms of higher switching performance, higher voltages and higher power density. The recent progress in the development of high voltage power semiconductor devices is reviewed. Future trends in device development and industrialization are also addressed.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.43-51
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• 2023

In this paper, we introduce the development trends of power devices which is the key component for power conversion system in electric vehicles, and discuss the characteristics of the next-generation wide-bandgap (WBG) power devices. We provide an overview of the characteristics of the present mainstream Si insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) devices and technology roadmap of Si IGBT by different manufacturers. Next, recent progress and advantages of SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) which are the most important unipolar devices, is described compared with conventional Si IGBT. Furthermore, due to the limitations of the current GaN power device technology, the issues encountered in applying the power conversion module for electric vehicles were described.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.58-81
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• 2013

Recently, the technological progress in manufacturing power devices based on wide bandgap materials, for example, silicon carbide(SiC) or gallium nitride(GaN), has resulted in a significant improvement of the operating-voltage range and switching speed and/or specific on resistance compared with silicon power devices. This paper will give an overview of the status on The Next generation Power Devices such as SiC/GaN with a focus on commercialization and research.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.49-54
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• 2017

In this paper, recent researches on new and renewable energy have been conducted due to problems such as energy exhaustion and environmental pollution, and new researches on high efficiency and high speed switching are needed. Therefore, we compared the efficiency by using high speed switching devices instead of IGBT which can't be used in high speed switching. The experiment was performed theoretically by applying the same parameters of the high speed switching devices which are the Cool MOS of Infineon Co., SiC C3M of Cree, and GaN FET device of Transform, by implementing the DC-DC boost converter and measuring the actual efficiency for output power and frequency. As a result, the GaN FET showed good efficiency at all switching frequency and output power.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.630-635
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• 2023

SiC is replacing the position of silicon in the power semiconductor field due to its superior resistance to adverse conditions such as high temperature and high voltage compared to silicon, which occupies the majority of existing industrial fields. In this paper, the gate of 4H-SiC Planar MOSFET, one of the power semiconductor devices, was formed with aluminium to make the contrast and parameter values consistent with polycrystalline Si gate, and the threshold voltage, breakdown voltage, and IV characteristics were studied by varying the channel doping concentration of SiC MOSFET.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.353-356
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• 2004

This paper discribes the analysis of the I-V characteristics of 4H-SiC DiMOSFET with single epi-layer Silicon Carbide has been around for over a century. However, only in the past two to three decades has its semiconducting properties been sufficently studied and applied, especially for high-power and high frequency devices. We present a numerical simulation-based optimization of DiMOSFET using the general-purpose device simulator MINIMIS-NT. For simulation, a loin thick drift layer with doping concentration of $5{\times}10^{15}/cm^3$ was chosen for 1000V blocking voltage design. The simulation results were used to calculate Baliga's figure of Merit (BFOM) as the criterion structure optimization and comparison.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.697-705
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• 2014

A single chip Programmable AC to DC Power Converter, consisting of wide band gap SiC MOSFET and SiC diodes, has been proposed which converts high frequency ac voltage to a conditioned dc output voltage at user defined given power level. The converter has high conversion efficiency because of negligible reverse recovery current in SiC diode and SiC MOSFET. High frequency operation reduces the need of bigger size inductor. Lead inductors are enough to maintain current continuity. A complete electrical analysis, die area estimation and thermal analysis of the converter has been presented. It has been found that settling time and peak overshoot voltage across the device has reduced significantly when SiC devices are used with respect to Si devices. Reduction in peak overshoot also increases the converter efficiency. The total package substrate dimension of the converter circuit is only $5mm{\times}5mm$. Thermal analysis performed in the paper shows that these devices would be very useful for use as miniaturized power converters for load currents of up to 5-7 amp, keeping the package thermal conductivity limitation in mind. The converter is ideal for voltage requirements for sub-5 V level power supplies for high temperatures and space electronics systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.3-6
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• 2004

Power semiconductor devices are being compact, high performance and intelligent thanks to recent remarkable developments of silicon design, process and related packaging technologies. Developments of MOS-gate transistors such as MOSFET and IGBT are dominant thanks to their advantages on high speed operation. In conjunction with package technology, silicon technologies such as trench, charge balance and NPT will support future power semiconductors. In addition, wide band gap material such as SiC and GaN are being studies for next generation power semiconductor devices.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.147-152
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• 2019

With the recent emphasis on the importance of energy conservation, studies on high-efficiency elevator systems are being continuously conducted. Therefore, pulse width modulation converters are commonly used in traction drives on elevator systems. Wide bandgap devices have been increasingly commercialized, and their application to power conversion systems, such as renewable and energy storage system, has been gradually increasing. In this study, a SiC inverter for an elevator traction drive is investigated. In particular, an inverter is designed to minimize stray and parasitic inductance. Input and output filters are designed by considering switching frequency. The designed SiC inverter reduces volume by approximately 32% compared with that of a Si inverter, and power converter efficiency is over 98.8%.