Testing High Power Discrete Devices


Emerging markets are driving the evolution of discrete power devices. Increased power requirements mean more power is being driven through a smaller device, creating challenges in both device design and test. This video series, 3 for 3, provides 3 answers for 3 pressing questions about trends in semiconductor test, and how testing for high power discrete devices is evolving. » 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

GaN Power Devices: Stability, Reliability and Robustness Issues


A technical paper titled "Stability, Reliability, and Robustness of GaN Power Devices: A Review" was published by researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Kyushu University. "Gallium nitride (GaN) devices are revolutionarily advancing the efficiency, frequency, and form factor of power electronics. However, t... » read more

Production Testing Of Discrete Power Products


By Vineet Pancholi and Dennis Dinawanao Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs), Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs), Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs), diodes, and application specific multi-transistor packaged modules are some of the more popular discrete products. Switches control the flow of current within a circuit. MOSFETs are a building block of most electronic... » read more

Week In Review: Design, Low Power


Revenue for the top 10 IC design houses globally hit US$ 39.6 billion in 2Q22, a 32% growth over the prior year, according to a Trendforce report. The firm contends this growth trend will be difficult to maintain due to the high preceding base period and overall worse market conditions. Renesas introduced a RISC-V MCU specifically optimized for advanced motor control systems. The new ASSP in... » read more

PCB Layout Tips For Low Side Gate Drivers With OCP


Our 1ED44173/5/6 are the new low side gate driver ICs that integrate over-current protection (OCP), FAULT status output and enable function. This high integration level is excellent for the digitally controlled Power Factor Correction (PFC) applications with boost topology and ground reference switching. In PFC applications, shunts are used to sense power switch current or DC bus current... » read more

Parasitic Characterization Comes To Power Design Simulation


Two power design challenges are taking teams into unfamiliar territory. Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors target greater efficiency and density. Stricter EMI compliance regulations now come standard in mission-critical industries. Power design practices are still catching up. Simulation often takes a back seat to respinning hardware prototypes until success. What’s missing that could make sim... » read more

Fabrication of GaN/Diamond Heterointerface and Interfacial Chemical Bonding State for Highly Efficient Device Design


Abstract "The direct integration of gallium nitride (GaN) and diamond holds much promise for high-power devices. However, it is a big challenge to grow GaN on diamond due to the large lattice and thermal-expansion coefficient mismatch between GaN and diamond. In this work, the fabrication of a GaN/diamond heterointerface is successfully achieved by a surface activated bonding (SAB) method at r... » read more

Fabs Drive Deeper Into Machine Learning


Advanced machine learning is beginning to make inroads into yield enhancement methodology as fabs and equipment makers seek to identify defectivity patterns in wafer images with greater accuracy and speed. Each month a wafer fabrication factory produces tens of millions of wafer-level images from inspection, metrology, and test. Engineers must analyze that data to improve yield and to reject... » read more

SiC MOSFETs In The Landscape Of Modern Power Devices


Over the years, low losses possible by high breakdown field made silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs extremely popular amongst engineers. At present, they are mostly used in areas where IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) have been the prevailing component of choice before. But which role do SiC MOSFETs play in today’s landscape of power devices? With SiC MOSFETs (Metal-Oxide-Semicond... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →