ADVANCEMENTS AND CHALLENGES IN WIDE BANDGAP SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY POWER ELECTRONICS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55766/sujst-2024-04-e02766Keywords:
ARWC (Active Reflected Wave Canceller), BPD (Basal Plane Dislocation), CAGR: Compound Annual Growth rate, PVT (Physical Vapour Transport), SiC (Silicon Carbide), TED (Threading Edge Dislocations), WBG (Wide Bandgap)Abstract
WBG (Wide Bandgap) devices are an enabling technology that can operate at high switching speeds, is more efficient, can stand higher temperatures, has a higher level of integration, and is lighter and more compact than silicon-based devices. Silicon was running out of steam. WBG has better characteristics for electrically powered equipment, substantial advantages, and inherent material properties. Hence there is increased attention for WBG from both academic and industrial research, and there is also an increased interest in the reliability of SiC (Silicon Carbide) power devices. WBG devices are reviewed from the role of defects and impact on performance. The emphasis of this paper also reviews technical challenges and other issues such as the price of WBG devices being extremely high, SiC MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors) channel mobility, high dv/dt, electromagnetic interference, EV integration, reflected wave resulting in overvoltage in the load side, noise, and validating the mitigation. Reduction of defects will enable WBG to reach its full potential.
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