January 4, 2023

Your weekly digest of news, analysis and perspective on the global power electronics industry.

Editor's Note

Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio – Editor-in-Chief

Happy New Year! I wish you a wonderful 2023! Let's start the new year with this issue about wide bandgap technologies. SiC power solutions are an important step for green energy generation and storage applications. We look in more detail at some specific application examples related to energy storage. We also report some studies on various aspects of SiC device reliability. On the other hand, GaN devices display the best performance in many applications, such as server, computing, and automotive. In the volume/cost/performance spectrum, power GaN solutions using standard silicon-based manufacturing infrastructure that is easily scalable to larger-diameter wafers (200 mm) are at the forefront. Research for new materials has led to developments for gallium oxide. Moreover, we propose an innovative step-down converter design.

Highlights

SiC Power Devices Enabling Better Energy Storage

SiC power devices are currently being widely used for applications such as power supplies, battery electric vehicle (BEV) power conversion for battery charging and traction drive, industrial motor drives, as well as renewable energy generation systems like solar and wind power inverters. Let’s look in more detail at some specific application examples related to energy storage.

SiC MOSFET Reliability Studies at Ohio State: Short-Circuit Capability

Professor Agarwal and his team at The Ohio State University have been at the forefront of conducting reliability studies on various aspects of SiC devices.

Power GaN for Better Power-Conversion Efficiency

Power Gallium Nitride (GaN) FETs have been demonstrated to have the highest power efficiency in the smallest solution size.

Power Supply Design Considerations for Primary Cell Powered Remote Patient Monitors

Remote patient monitors (RPMs) are continuously evolving to include more features that enable doctors to gain greater insights into their patients' health. These features create greater demands on the batteries that power the monitors. This article provides a solution for an ECG RPM patch that preserves battery life to take advantage of these features.