Peer-to-peer, engineer-to-engineer questions and answers from the EDABoard.com engineering community around power electronics. Click the “Read more” link and follow the entire conversation and maybe add your two cents by logging in to EDAboard.com Practical circuit problems – I tried to make an experiment with a “push-pull inverter” and it worked in simulation (software LTspice) […]
MOSFETS
Top power electronics stories of 2017
Here are the power electronics features that got the most interest from readers in 2017. Teardown: Inside Ikea’s smart LED bulb As smart LED bulbs go, this one is pretty simple. It doesn’t incorporate any sort of smartphone app and can’t be controlled over the Internet, like some other smart bulbs […]
Negative capacitance could reduce power consumption in MOSFETs
A group of researchers from Purdue University have experimentally demonstrated how to harness a property called negative capacitance to reduce power consumption in MOSFETs. The negative capacitance arises in ferroelectric materials. When a voltage pulse is applied, the voltage across the ferroelectric capacitor is found to decrease with time in exactly the opposite direction to […]
Vertical GaN transistor designs could usher in 5-kV semiconductor switches
What are called vertical transistor designs employing GaN have shown a lot of promise for making possible switches able to operate at around 1,200 V. But new research described at the recent IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting indicates it may be possible to fabricate GaN transistors able to handle voltages in the 3,300 to 5,000-V […]
Power SiP holds 600-V/8-A single-phase MOSFET bridge
STMicroelectronics’ PWD13F60 System-in-Package (SiP) contains a complete 600V/8A single-phase MOSFET full bridge in a 13mm x 11mm outline, saving bill-of-materials costs and board space in industrial motor drives, lamp ballasts, power supplies, converters, and inverters. With a footprint 60% smaller than a comparable circuit built from discrete components, the PWD13F60 can also boost end-application power density. By […]
MOSFET targets high-power SMPS using resonant topologies
Superjunction MOSFET technology called the 600-V CoolMOS CFD7 is part of the CoolMOS 7 series from Infineon. This new MOSFET addresses the high power SMPS market for resonant topologies. It offers industry-leading efficiency and reliability in soft switching topologies like LLC and ZVS PSFB. This makes it a candidate for high-power SMPS applications such as […]
Tougher stress tests for automotive MOSFETs
Current automotive quality standards may not be selective enough for power electronic devices that will run next-generation vehicles. Device makers are responding with their own more stringent test regimes. Aleksandra Kozyczak, Lourdes Garcia | Infineon Technologies Modern vehicles rely heavily on electronic systems. Each electronic component in these systems is a source of potential failure. […]
Gauging progress in SiC MOSFET technology
A review of SiC MOSFET performance data shows these devices have improved dramatically in a short time. And improvements are likely to continue. Kevin M. Speer, PhD | Littelfuse, Inc., Sujit Banerjee, PhD | Monolith Semiconductor Inc. Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), first commercialized in the early 1980s, revolutionized the power electronics industry. Today, silicon […]
Power Electronics Top Talks in October on EDABoard.com forums
(editor’s note: Intrigued by the problem? Have a question or another solution? Then click the “Read more” link and follow the conversation on EDAboard.com or log in to EDAboard and participate in the power electronics forum threads.) Switch design by using solid devices – I want to know how to design a solid static switch to replace […]
SiC transistors could run faster, cooler thanks to research effort
New research coming out of the University of Tokyo hints at silicon-carbide MOSFETs that will be more conductive thanks to a better understanding of their carrier mobility. In a paper to be delivered at the upcoming 2017 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), T. Iwamatsu, H. Amishiro, H. Watanabe, K. Kita from the Univeristy of […]