PowerAmerica Work Recently Highlighted by Manufacturing USA

PowerAmerica and X-Fab partnered in 2016 to create the world’s first open silicon carbide foundry, converting a former Texas Instruments facility that made traditional silicon wafers. PowerAmerica’s goal was to remove barriers of entry and help commercialize wide bandgap (WBG) power electronics technologies, which increase the energy efficiency and reliability of power electronics.

This project was recently highlighted by Manufacturing USA as part of their “Facilities Shaping the Future of Manufacturing.” Read the whole story here.

PowerAmerica to Sponsor PCIM Europe Digital Days

PowerAmerica is proud to partner with PCIM Europe Digital Days, the continent’s largest power electronics exhibition (now virtual), scheduled for May 3-7, 2021. By participating in the conference, PowerAmerica will showcase its mission and its member companies to a large and influential audience of the international power electronics community.

About the Conference

The “PCIM Europe digital days” are the digital industry meeting place for international power electronics enabling networking and knowledge. In addition to company profiles, forum and product presentations, participants can expect an outstanding conference with live and video-on-demand presentations from industry and academia, followed by discussions with the speakers. Participants will have five days at their disposal to discover the extensive program.

Join Us for December’s Technical Webinar: “Development of High-Voltage Vertical GaN PN Diodes”

Dr. Bob Kaplar, manager of the Semiconductor Material and Device Sciences Department at Sandia National Laboratories, will speak about his research during the institute’s monthly webinar series on Wednesday, Dec. 9. The talk is titled, “Development of High-Voltage Vertical GaN PN Diodes.”

Biography
Bob Kaplar received a B.S. degree in Physics from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University, Columbus. He joined Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, in 2002 as a post-doctoral researcher, was subsequently a member of the technical staff, and is now manager of the Semiconductor Material and Device Sciences Department at Sandia. His research is focused on wide- and ultra-wide-bandgap III-Nitride materials and devices for power conversion applications.

When: Wednesday, Dec. 9, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. EDT

Access Information:
Click Link to Join
Meeting Number
736 972 403 #
No password required
Audio Connection
(415) 655-0001
Access Code: 736 972 403 #

Naval Research Labs Helping PowerAmerica Members Identify Materials Defects; Improve Wafer Yield and Device Reliability

Naval Research Labs (NRL) has been using its advanced non-destructive ultraviolet photoluminescence (UVPL) wafer mapping capability to provide Basal Plane Dislocation (BPD) and other material defect mapping to PowerAmerica member companies including X-Fab, GeneSiC and SemiQ. These material defects adversely affect device yield and reliability.  The maps and analysis provided by NRL have helped these companies identify and suppress these defects.

Within the PowerAmerica program, NRL initiated a collaboration with X-Fab to investigate the introduction of BPDs due to Al implantation. This work showed that BPDs introduced by implantation of Al required the combination of room temperature implantation and activation anneal.  It also showed a strong dose dependence: the dose used for p-wells did not introduce BPDs, whereas the higher dose for p+-contacts consistently introduced BPDs.

These findings led to the creation of another DOE program, “Improving SiC Wafers and Processing for Lower Costs and Higher Reliability.”  For this program, NRL is working with NREL, Microchip, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, The Ohio State and Auburn University to determine the feasibility of using room temperature (RT) Al implantation to manufacture reliable SiC MOSFETs.  MOSFET fabrication is being done at X-Fab and another SiC foundry. The attraction of RT Al implantation is that the overall cost to fabricate SiC MOSFETs is significantly lower.

In addition to expanding domestic production of high-yield and reliable SiC devices for today’s market, PowerAmerica has addressed key issues concerning the expansion of SiC devices in the future power electronics market.  SiC devices have the innate potential to outperform Si devices in the higher voltage range, > 15 kV, such as would be needed for microgrid systems.  Bipolar devices such as IGBTs will be needed for these applications, and they will need thick epitaxial drift layers, > 150 µm.  To optimize the trade-off between on-state and switching losses, it will be necessary to enhance and to control the carrier lifetime throughout the whole drift layer.

One of NRL’s accomplishments within PowerAmerica has been to work with Wolfspeed/Cree to demonstrate the capability of the non-destructive technique developed by NRL to measure carrier lifetime through thick epitaxial layers such as is required for high-voltage IGBTs. Techniques presently used to monitor lifetime only sample the lifetime to about 50 µm deep. The study with Wolfspeed/Cree shows that NRL’s non-destructive technique provides the capability to measure lifetime over the full drift layer thickness and at depths over 150 µm. Thus, it has the capability to guide the development of the processing steps for enhancing and maintaining the high carrier lifetime required in the IGBT drift layer.

Example of BPDs introduced by aluminum implantation and activation anneal during the fabrication of PiN
diodes: (a) is a UVPL image BPDs introduced by the processing (yellow arrows point to some of them) and (b) is a
schematic showing how BPDs originate from small defect areas in or near the top implanted layer and glide
towards the substrate along basal planes. In (a) the metal contacts were removed to do the UVPL imaging.

Tune In for the PowerAmerica Monthly Technical Webinar, “SiC Research Beyond Power MOSFETs”

Dr. John Shen of the Illinois Institute of Technology will speak about his research during the institute’s monthly webinar series on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The talk is titled, “SiC Research Beyond Power MOSFETs.”

Shen is a Grainger Chair Professor in Electrical and Power Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. He has over 30 years of academic, industrial, and entrepreneurial experience in the field of power semiconductor devices, power electronics, transportation electrification, and microgrid protection, and authored over 300 journal and conference publications including winning two IEEE Transactions Prize Paper Awards. He has 18 issued and several pending U.S. patents in the areas.
Read his full biography.

Access Information:
Click Link to Join
Meeting Number
736 972 403 #
No password required
Audio Connection
(415) 655-0001
Access Code: 736 972 403 #

*Space is limited, so make sure to tune in on time.

PowerAmerica Holds First Ever Virtual Summer Workshop to Rave Reviews

PowerAmerica hosted its first virtual summer wide bandgap workshop Aug. 4-5 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Nearly 270 attendees logged on to participate, marking our largest audience to date! 

Highlights included a keynote address from Balu Balakrishnan, president and CEO of Power Integrations, as well as a SiC and GaN market update by Ezmi Dogmus of Yole Developpment. Engaging panel discussions focused on challenges and opportunities for wide bandgap technologies in grid/microgrid applications; and university-led wide bandgap programs. The audience tuned in for presentations on projects initiated and funded by PowerAmerica members, in addition to an array of student posters and technical presentations which are still accessible on our workshop YouTube channel

One of the most engaging components of the event were the virtual networking sessions. While nothing replaces the value of meeting face to face, PowerAmerica utilized a video conferencing platform that successfully replicated the experience of in-person networking. We are deeply appreciative of our audience’s willingness to engage with this technology platform that made valuable networking sessions possible. We received some great feedback, with one attendee from a major corporation telling us, “I thought your networking events were exceptional…it felt almost like being there. I’ve attended 10 virtual conferences in the last 3 months and you guys honestly were the top one.” 

Additionally, we wanted to thank the more than 30 prospective members that attended this event. We hope to see many of you at our annual meeting in February, which will also be held virtually. Dates and agenda are forthcoming.

Faculty discuss wide bandgap programs at their respective universities during a panel moderated by Jim LeMunyon, PowerAmerica’s Membership Director.

PowerAmerica Kicks Off a Dozen New Projects Designed to Advance SiC and GaN Technology

This month, PowerAmerica will kick off a dozen new projects to further SiC and GaN technology in the U.S. The institute is launching three Member-Initiated projects selected by PowerAmerica members through a competitive process to address key technical challenges for wide bandgap manufacturing and reliability, as well as nine Open Innovation Fund projects that are awarded on a rolling basis through an open application process to address emergent opportunities for impactful innovations across the supply chain.

The projects are:

Member Initiated Projects

  • Prototyping and Evaluation of High-Speed 10 kV SiC MOSFET Power Modules with High Scalability and Partial Discharge Inception Voltage (Virginia Tech/NREL/Wolfspeed)
  • Packaging a Top-cooled 650V/>150A GaN Power Module with Insulated Thermal Pads and Gate-Drive Circuit (University of Tennessee-Knoxville/GaN Systems/Hella)
  • Surge Energy Robustness of GaN Power Devices and Modules: Application-driven Evaluation and Physics-of-Failure Modeling (Virginia Tech/Lockheed Martin)

Open Innovation Fund Projects

  • 3 kV SiC Planar-Gate Power JBSFETs (SiCamore Semi/NC State University)
  • Design, Manufacture, and Test of a 6.5kV WBG Module for MV Voltage Source Converter Applications (GE Aviation)
  • Artificial Intelligence-Based Current Sharing for Parallel Operation of 3.3 kV SiC MOSFETs in Power Module (Ohio State University)
  • Compact and Efficient GaN-based Back-up or Portable Power for Electronics (Fastwatt)
  • WBG Based Low Voltage/High Current DC/DC Converter for Electric Transit Buses (Miami University)
  • Establishment of WBG Power Electronics Systems Testing Facility for Education and Workforce Training Engaging PowerAmerica Industry Members (NC State University)
  • 78-MHz, 200W GaN-Based Class E and EF Inverters for Wireless Power Mats with Enhanced Load and Reactance Range Employing a Nonlinear Shunt Capacitor (NC State University)
  • Medium-Voltage SiC-based Compensators for Distribution Systems (EPRI/University of Arkansas)
  • SiC Based Power Electronic Driver for Electric Vehicle Traction (University of Akron)

PowerAmerica Releases 2019 Annual Report

PowerAmerica has released its 2019 Annual Report – Innovation and Collaboration: PowerAmerica Empowers the Thriving SiC and GaN Power Electronics Ecosystem. The report highlights the important role PowerAmerica plays in helping to build an industry that is projected to grow to up to $2 billion by 2023, according to IHS Markit Data.

Some highlights from this year’s report include:

  • $150 million in project funding provided to date;
  • 122 projects funded to date to enhance SiC and GaN power electronics manufacturing;
  • Technical overviews of more than 30 member projects in areas such as EV chargers, PV inverters, data centers, consumer electronics and more;
  • An overview of our membership benefits, including exclusive access to IP and engineering samples, member guided-SiC and GaN project selection, networking opportunities and more; and
  • Education program highlights such as providing more than $24 million in funding to more than 60 university-led projects in our first four years of operation.

Check Out PowerAmerica at ECCE 2019

Attending ECCE 2019 (IEEE Energy Conversion Conference and Expo)  in Baltimore this week? Check out the following panels on wide bandgap technologies, moderated by PowerAmerica: PowerAmerica members will have a big presence at in Baltimore, Maryland. Panels PowerAmerica is moderating include:

Join PowerAmerica, Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster to Celebrate National Manufacturing Day Oct. 4

On Friday, Oct. 4, PowerAmerica will team with one of its members, the Raleigh-based Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster, for a special networking event and speakers’ panel at the PowerAmerica offices at N.C. State University to celebrate National Manufacturing Day.

See the event description below. Register and view a more detailed event agenda at this link.

“North Carolina has long been a manufacturing leader beginning with textiles, furniture, and tobacco. Since then, our footprint in manufacturing has continued to expand as we’ve attracted and started revolutionary companies specializing in the development of semiconductors, robotics, and other high tech products.

The strength of manufacturing in our region has attracted a series of federally-funded manufacturing institutes looking to bolster and support the vibrant manufacturing economy of the region. These institutes are enabling companies to manufacture products more efficiently and with less energy consumption.

The future of manufacturing in our region rests on a new wave of innovation that includes the use of robots for automation, IoT hardware and software to monitor processes, and analytics to deliver actionable insights on the energy demands of buildings and manufacturing equipment. This event will feature some of the region’s most innovative manufacturers along with the technology companies providing this next generation equipment.”

Hope to see you on Oct. 4!