Wide Bandgap Semiconductors: What Modeling Challenges Must We Overcome


As power electronics shrink in size, the demands on power, frequency, and efficiency grow exponentially. The semiconductor industry is leaning heavily into wide bandgap materials like gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) to help meet these demands. Recent research projects that the global GaN semiconductor devices market will grow at a CAGR of 25.4% from 2023 to 2030. However, the ... » read more

Power Semis Usher In The Silicon Carbide Era


Silicon carbide production is ramping quickly, driven by end market demand in automotive and price parity with silicon. Many thousands of power semiconductor modules already are in use in electric vehicles for on-board charging, traction inversion, and DC-to-DC conversion. Today, most of those are fabricated using silicon-based IGBTs. A shift to silicon carbide-based MOSFETs doubles the powe... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Intel dropped out of a $5.4 billion deal to purchase Tower Semiconductor in Israel. Intel cited the inability to obtain regulatory approval in a timely manner as the reason for ending the deal signed in February. Intel will pay a $353 million termination fee to Tower. The silicon wafer supply has moved back into positive territory for 2023 thanks to a 7% decline in wafer shipments combined w... » read more

Ramping Up Power Electronics For EVs


The rapid acceleration of the power devices used in electric vehicles (EVs) is challenging chipmakers to adequately screen the ICs that power these vehicles.[1] While progress toward autonomous driving is grabbing the public’s attention, the electrification of transportation systems is progressing quietly. For the automotive industry, this shift involves a mix of electronic components. Amo... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


The Cyberspace Administration of China recommended a ban of Micron chips for critical information infrastructure (CII), alleging serious network security risks. According to a statement from China's Network Security Review Office, "Micron's products have relatively serious potential network security issues, which pose a major security risk to [China's] critical information infrastructure supply... » read more

Gate Drive Circuit Without A Speed-Up Capacitor for a GaN Gate Injection Transistor


A technical paper titled "Gate Drive Circuit Suitable for a GaN Gate Injection Transistor" was published by researchers at Nagoya University. Abstract "A GaN gate injection transistor (GIT) has great potential as a power semiconductor device. However, a GaN GIT has a diode characteristic at the gate-source, and a corresponding gate drive circuit is thus required. Several studies in the lite... » read more

Driving Performance In GaN-Based USB-C Adapters And Chargers With EPR


With the announcement of the USB PD 3.1 standard [1], higher power levels of up to 240 W are enabled. Still, the wide output voltage range from 5 V to 48 V raises new challenges for the converter topologies currently in use. In this white paper, the combination of an AC-DC PFC boost and a DC-DC hybrid flyback (HFB) stage [2], also well known as asymmetrical half-bridge flyback topology, is prop... » read more

Power Semiconductors: A Deep Dive Into Materials, Manufacturing & Business


Whether you’re the owner of the average smartphone, commuting on trains, or driving around in a Tesla, you use power semiconductor devices every day. In a technology-dependent world, these devices are everywhere, and demand for more types of chips using different materials is growing. In the past, most engineers paid little attention to power semiconductors. They were deemed commodity, off... » read more

Unleashing the Potential of Compound Semiconductors: Industry Leaders Collaborate at SEMICON Taiwan 2022 to Create Ecosystem


Delivering high-speed processing over 100 times faster than silicon, compound semiconductors have made the devices a magnet for developers of leading-edge technologies out to maximize performance in key segments including automotive, data centers and communications. With the rising profile of compound semiconductors as the backdrop, leading experts gathered at the Power and Opto Semiconductor F... » read more

A Star Is Born: Gallium Nitride And The Coming Age Of Compound Semiconductors


Not so long ago, Blu-ray was hailed as a technological advancement in the world of digital video. But in the streaming era, Blu-ray’s luster has faded. However, the technology responsible for the blue laser diode that gave the Blu-ray player its name – gallium nitride (GaN) – is emerging as one of a number of exciting new developments in the semiconductor industry. Today, GaN is used b... » read more

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