New-generation power semiconductors… – Information Centre – Research & Innovation

To reinforce Europe’s position in electric power semiconductors and industrial electronics, European-primarily based corporations want accessibility to the most current innovative systems to prototype and manufacture gadgets for more effective and more compact purposes. In distinct, as digital gadgets are established to grow to be smaller, there is a want for novel electric power semiconductors primarily based on new products and layouts.

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a single of the most promising candidates for new semiconductor products. It has a broader band gap than the predominant semiconductor substance silicon, which indicates it can empower greater voltages (e.g. 600 volts) with very low resistance.

These traits are the foundation for strength conversion with decreased losses. As a result, new GaN gadgets have wonderful potential to meet up with foreseeable future marketplace needs.

The EU, marketplace, countrywide and regional-funded PowerBase project developed the future era of strength-effective gallium nitride semiconductors. These are capable of working at the large voltages and existing densities essential to deliver reducing-edge compact electric power purposes.

‘The major project achievement was building the initial era of gallium nitride electric power semiconductors of industrial high quality out of Europe,’ states project coordinator Herbert Pairitsch of Infineon Technologies Austria AG. ‘They empower smaller and more effective purposes for electric power conversion.’

As a immediate outcome and only 6 months following the project ended, the initial European-produced electric power merchandise – gallium nitride semiconductors – had been launched in the world-wide market, beneath the trademark CoolGaN™.

Pilot strains and pioneers

In addition to other achievements, the POWERBASE consortium established up pilot strains for the novel electric power semiconductors by boosting an present silicon fabrication line and packaging strains. The procedure for generating sophisticated GaN electric power gadgets is becoming organized for an impending large volume. It is fully built-in and suitable with large-volume silicon CMOS (complementary steel-oxide-semiconductor) producing services.

‘The current market for GaN is still really modest, so we want co-generation with silicon technological innovation, with only a modest volume of devoted tools. It was a massive task to demonstrate that no cross-contaminations can take place,’ Pairitsch points out.

The project consortium done investigate and progress along the total benefit chain, including substrates, gadgets, packaging and ‘smart energy’ demonstrator purposes. Basic investigate created new awareness on gallium nitride products, specifically relating to their reliability in semiconductors for large-voltage purposes.

This investigate has delivered for larger utilisation of the new products and systems and is promoting their current market acceptance. The new-era, wide-band-gap semiconductors open up new alternatives for compact electric power purposes simply because they go outside of the overall performance limits of silicon-primarily based semiconductors.

The early availability of increased electric power gadgets made in the EU will be essential for retaining the competitiveness of European industries, including in the fields of communications, electrical automobiles, lighting, and photovoltaics for solar strength.

Compact electric power provides

POWERBASE has enhanced the means in just European marketplace to provide more effective and more compact purposes for strength era and strength transformation. ‘For case in point, the adaptor for a laptop can now be put in the plug,’ states Pairitsch. ‘This receives rid of the bulky AC cable and adaptor foremost to your slim laptop.’

The project’s investigate showed that in strength conversion chains, the conversion can be enhanced significantly as opposed to the ideal silicon possibilities. ‘POWERBASE laid the foundation for strength conversion with decreased electric power losses,’ he provides.

Superior-overall performance strength conversion is essential for telecommunication servers, for instance, where gadgets ought to be up-and-functioning round the clock. The initial gallium nitride merchandise made use of in a telecommunication server was a CoolGaN™ merchandise that can provide a smaller modular electric power source with 2 % greater efficiency, symbolizing a forty % reduction in reduction.

POWERBASE acquired funding from the Digital Element Devices for European Leadership Joint Endeavor (ECSEL JU) which, in convert, was supported by Horizon 2020 and nine ECSEL Collaborating States.

The project represented a close partnership among investigate and marketplace with the all round objective of strengthening Europe´s electric power semiconductor marketplace. A comply with-up project, UltimateGaN is additional building the potential of the novel GaN semiconductors.