As part of its ongoing efforts to accelerate the development of a highly educated wide bandgap power electronics manufacturing workforce, PowerAmerica will offer a Wide Bandgap Devices and Applications short course Nov. 7-9 at its offices in Raleigh.

“This course was tailored very specifically to meet the current needs of the power electronics industry. We sought input from more than 20 industry leaders to determine existing workforce knowledge gaps, then analyzed this information in detail to create a course that will equip attendees with the tools needed to succeed in this quickly accelerating technological field,” said PowerAmerica Deputy Executive Director and CTO Victor Veliadis.

The goal is to introduce power electronics professionals to the basics and benefits of silicon carbide and gallium nitride technology, so they can effectively incorporate it into their products and systems. Power electronics applications engineers, power device engineers, SiC and GaN technical marketing professionals, and power electronics business and product line managers are all encouraged to attend.

Led by a team of wide bandgap technology experts from industry and academia, the course will provide participants with experience through applications-specific examples in areas such as power converters, electric vehicles and motor drives, as well as a hands-on laboratory demos.

The course is available for $1,200 for PowerAmerica members and $1,800 for non-members. View the full schedule and register here.

Dr. Victor Veliadis, CTO and Deputy Executive Director of PowerAmerica, will give a presentation, “SiC Processing – An Exercise in Si Fabrication with a High Temperature Twist,” on the advantages of silicon carbide over other power materials and SiC devices currently developed for power applications during PowerAmerica’s monthly technical webinar series on Wednesday, Sept. 6 from noon to 1 p.m. EDT.

Dr. Veliadis received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and worked at Northrop Grumman for a number of years designing, fabricating and testing SiC SITs, JFETs, MOSFETs and diodes in the 1-12 kV range before joining PowerAmerica in 2016. He has 24 issued patents to his credit and is a senior member of IEEE, an IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer, and has served in the ECSCRM, ICSCRM, WiPDA, and ISPSD organizing committees. Read his full biography.

 

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With funding assistance from PowerAmerica, SiC device and power module company Wolfspeed has developed first-of-its-kind silicon carbide power modules for 3.3 kV and 10 kV applications. According to the company, this is the first SiC power module at these voltage levels to use exclusively the MOSFET built-in body diode as the anti-parallel rectifier.

A built-in diode has numerous advantages over an external and additional diode device. The built-in diode or “body diode” design maximizes the performance of SiC MOSFET modules by freeing up space in the power module, allowing for more power capability and therefore increased performance in a smaller space. It also makes assembling a power module easier, boosting long-term reliability and optimizing costs.

“Essentially, we’re doubling the power and therefore increasing supply chain capability by providing another solution at higher power levels – specifically at the 3.3 kV and 10 kV applications,” said Ty McNutt, director of business development at Wolfspeed’s Fayetteville, AR location.

PowerAmerica funding helped the company manufacture and test the modules. During testing, Wolfspeed was able to demonstrate the power improvement gained by not having the additional diodes.

Currently, these Wolfspeed power modules are being offered to PowerAmerica members and select customers.

Dr. Ayayi Ahyi of Auburn University will speak about his work to develop a gate dielectric process that will be an improvement on the current nitridation process and made freely available to PowerAmerica members during PowerAmerica’s monthly technical webinar series from noon to 1 p.m. EDTWednesday, June 7. Dr. Ahyi’s presentation is titled, “Development of an Open Gate Dielectric Process for SiC MOSFET Manufacturing.”  

Dr. Ahyi is an Associate Research Faculty in the Auburn University Physics Department. His current work is focused on wide bandgap MOSFET interfaces, especially SiC MOSFET. Since he joined the department in 2007, Dr. Ahyi has been co-recipient of two patents, one on SiC impurity doping and the second on SiC MOS interface improvement. Read his full biography. 

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Do you have an idea for a project involving wide bandgap semiconductors?

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is interested in receiving research proposals addressing critical fundamental research needs in advanced manufacturing, and particularly in projects that may enable innovations in the technical focus areas of one or more of the Manufacturing USA Institutes, including PowerAmerica.

Such proposals should leverage the facilities, infrastructure, expertise and member companies of one or more Institutes.

More details can be found on the NSF website.