Preface to Special Issue on Towards High Performance Ga_(2)O_(3) Electronics: Epitaxial Growth and Power Devices(Ⅰ)

There is currently great optimism within the electronics community that gallium oxide(Ga_(2)O_(3)) ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors have unprecedented prospects for eventually revolutionizing a rich variety of power electronic applications. Specially, benefiting from its ultra-high bandgap of around 4.8 eV, it is expected that the emerging Ga_(2)O_(3) technology would offer an exciting platform to deliver massively enhanced device performance for power electronics and even completely new applications.

Investigation on the Oscillating Buoy Wave Power Device

An oscillating buoy wave power device (OD) is a device extracting wave power by an oscillating buoy. Being excited by waves, the buoy heaves up and down to convert wave energy into electricity by means of a mechanical or hydraulic device. Compared with an Oscillating Water Column (OWC) wave power device, the OD has the same capture width ratio as the OWC does, but much higher secondary conversion efficiency. Moreover, the chamber of the OWC, which is the most expensive and difficult part to be built, is not necessary for the OD, so it is easier to construct an OD. In this paper, a numerical calculation is conducted for an optimal design of the OD firstly, then a model of the device is built and, a model test is carried out in a wave tank. The results show that the total efficiency of the OD is much higher than that of the OWC and that the OD is a promising wave power device.

Massive Power Device Condition Monitoring Data Feature Extraction and Clustering Analysis using MapReduce and Graph Model

Effective storage,processing and analyzing of power device condition monitoring data faces enormous challenges.A framework is proposed that can support both MapReduce and Graph for massive monitoring data analysis at the same time based on Aliyun DTplus platform.First,power device condition monitoring data storage based on MaxCompute table and parallel permutation entropy feature extraction based on MaxCompute MapReduce are designed and implemented on DTplus platform.Then,Graph based k-means algorithm is implemented and used for massive condition monitoring data clustering analysis.Finally,performance tests are performed to compare the execution time between serial program and parallel program.Performance is analyzed from CPU cores consumption,memory utilization and parallel granularity.Experimental results show that the designed framework and parallel algorithms can efficiently process massive power device condition monitoring data.

Review on failure analysis of interconnections in power devices

Interconnections in microelectronic packaging are not only the physical carrier to realize the function of electronic circuits,but also the weak spots in reliability tests.Most of failures in power devices are caused by the malfunction of interconnections,including failure of bonding wire as well as cracks of solder layer.In fact,the interconnection failure of power devices is the result of a combination of factors such as electricity,temperature,and force.It is significant to investigate the failure mechanisms of various factors for the failure analysis of interconnections in power devices.This paper reviews the main failure modes of bonding wire and solder layer in the interconnection structure of power devices,and its failure mechanism.Then the reliability test method and failure analysis techniques of interconnection in power device are introduced.These methods are of great significance to the reliability analysis and life prediction of power devices.

A Review of Gallium Nitride Power Device and Its Applications in Motor Drive

Wide band-gap gallium nitride(GaN)device has the advantages of large band-gap,high electron mobility and low dielectric constant.Compared with traditional Si devices,these advantages make it suitable for fast-switching and high-power-density power electronics converters,thus reducing the overall weight,volume and power consumption of power electronic systems.As a review paper,this paper summarizes the characteristics and development of the state-of-art GaN power devices with different structures,analyzes the research status,and forecasts the application prospect of GaN devices.In addition,the problems and challenges of GaN devices were discussed.And thanks to the advantages of GaN devices,both the power density and efficiency of motor drive system are improved,which also have been presented in this paper.

Modulating properties by light ion irradiation:From novel functional materials to semiconductor power devices

In this review,the application of light ion irradiation is discussed for tailoring novel functional materials and for improving the performance in SiC or Si based electrical power devices.The deep traps and electronic disorder produced by light ion irradiation can modify the electrical,magnetic,and optical properties of films(e.g.,dilute ferromagnetic semiconductors and topological materials).Additionally,benefiting from the high reproducibility,precise manipulation of functional depth and density of defects,as well as the flexible patternability,the helium or proton ion irradiation has been successfully employed in improving the dynamic performance of SiC and Si based PiN diode power devices by reducing their majority carrier lifetime,although the static performance is sacrificed due to deep level traps.Such a trade-off has been regarded as the key point to compromise the static and dynamic performances of power devices.As a result,herein the light ion irradiation is highlighted in both exploring new physics and optimizing the performance in functional materials and electrical devices.

Enhancement of Distributed Generation by Using Custom Power Device

Wind energy （WE） has become immensely popular for distributed generation （DG）. This case presents the monitoring, modeling, control, and analysis of the two-level three-phase WE based DG system where the electric grid interfacing custom power device （CPD） is controlled to perform the smart exchanging of electric power as per the Indian grid code. WE is connected to DC link of CPD for the grid integration purpose. The CPD based distributed static compensator, i.e. the distributed static synchronous compensator （DSTATCOM）, is utilized for injecting the wind power to the point of common coupling （PCC） and also acts against the reactive power demand. The novel indirect current control scheme of DSTATCOM regulates the power import and export between the WE and the electric grid system. It also acts as a compensator and performs both the key features simultaneously. Hence, the penetration of additional generated WE power to the grid is increased by 20% to 25%. The burden of reactive power compensation from grid is reduced by DSTATCOM. The modeling and simulation are done in MATLAB. The results are validated and verified.

Recent advances in NiO/Ga_(2)O_(3) heterojunctions for power electronics

Beta gallium oxide(β-Ga_(2)O_(3)) has attracted significant attention for applications in power electronics due to its ultrawide bandgap of ~ 4.8 eV and the large critical electric field of 8 MV/cm. These properties yield a high Baliga's figures of merit(BFOM) of more than 3000. Though β-Ga_(2)O_(3) possesses superior material properties, the lack of p-type doping is the main obstacle that hinders the development of β-Ga_(2)O_(3)-based power devices for commercial use. Constructing heterojunctions by employing other p-type materials has been proven to be a feasible solution to this issue. Nickel oxide(NiO) is the most promising candidate due to its wide band gap of 3.6–4.0 eV. So far, remarkable progress has been made in NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3) heterojunction power devices. This review aims to summarize recent advances in the construction, characterization, and device performance of the NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3) heterojunction power devices. The crystallinity, band structure, and carrier transport property of the sputtered NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3) heterojunctions are discussed. Various device architectures, including the NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3) heterojunction pn diodes(HJDs), junction barrier Schottky(JBS) diodes, and junction field effect transistors(JFET), as well as the edge terminations and super-junctions based on the NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3) heterojunction, are described.

Novel high-voltage, high-side and low-side power devices with a single control signal

Novel high-voltage, high-side and low-side power devices, whose control circuits are referred to as the tub, are proposed and investigated to reduce chip area and improve the reliability of high-voltage integrated circuits. By using the tub circuit to control a branch circuit consisting of a PMOS and a resistor, a pulse signal is generated to control the low-side n-LDMOS after being processed by a low-voltage circuit. Thus, the high-voltage level-shifting circuit is not needed any more, and the parasitic effect of the conventional level-shifting circuit is eliminated. Moreover, the specific on-resistance of the proposed low-side device is reduced by more than 14.3% compared with the conventional one. In the meantime, integrated low-voltage power supplies for the low-voltage circuit and the tub circuit are also proposed. Simulations are performed with MEDICI and SPICE, and the results show that the expectant functions are achieved well.

A landscape of β-Ga_(2)O_(3) Schottky power diodes

β-Ga_(2)O_(3) Schottky barrier diodes have undergone rapid progress in research and development for power electronic applications.This paper reviews state-of-the-art β-Ga_(2)O_(3) rectifier technologies,including advanced diode architectures that have enabled lower reverse leakage current via the reduced-surface-field effect.Characteristic device properties including onresistance,breakdown voltage,rectification ratio,dynamic switching,and nonideal effects are summarized for the different devices.Notable results on the high-temperature resilience of β-Ga_(2)O_(3) Schottky diodes,together with the enabling thermal packaging solutions,are also presented.

The Advent of Wide Bandgap Green-Synthesized Copper Zinc Tin Sulfide Nanoparticles for Applications in Optical and Electronic Devices

Power-electronic devices are widely used in various applications, such as voltage and frequency control for transmitting and converting electric power. As these devices are becoming increasingly important, there is a need to reduce their losses and improve their performance to reduce electric power consumption. Current power semiconductor devices, such as inverters, are made of silicon (Si), but the performance of these Si power devices is reaching its limit due to physical properties and energy bandgap. To address this issue, recent developments in wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor materials, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), offer the potential for a new generation of power semiconductor devices that can perform significantly better than silicon-based devices. In this research, a green synthesized copper-zinc-tin-sulfide (CZTS) nanoparticle is proposed as a new WBG semiconductor material that could be used for optical and electronic devices. Its synthesis, consisting of the production methods and materials used, is discussed. The characterization is also discussed, and further research is recommended in the later sections to enable the continual advancement of this technology.

Experimental Study on Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Vertical-Axis Floating Tidal Current Energy Power Generation Device

To study the characteristics of attenuation, hydrostatic towage and wave response of the vertical-axis floating tidal current energy power generation device （VAFTCEPGD）, a prototype is designed and experiment is carried out in the towing tank. Free decay is conducted to obtain attenuation characteristics of the VAFTCEPGD, and characteristics of mooring forces and motion response, floating condition, especially the lateral displacement of the VAFTCEPGD are obtained from the towing in still water. Tension response of the #1 mooring line and vibration characteristics of the VAFTCEPGD in regular waves as well as in level 4 irregular wave sea state with the current velocity of 0.6 m/s. The results can be reference for theoretical study and engineering applications related to VAFTCEPGD.

Traction power substation balance and losses estimation in AC railways using a power transfer device through Monte Carlo analysis

The high dynamic power requirements present in modern railway transportation systems raise research challenges for an optimal operation of railway electrification. This paper presents a Monte Carlo analysis on the application of a power transfer device installed in the neutral zone and exchanging active power between two sections. The main analyzed parameters are the active power balance in the two neighbor traction power substations and the system power losses. A simulation framework is presented to comprise the desired analysis and a universe of randomly distributed scenarios are tested to evaluate the effectiveness of the power transfer device system. The results show that the density of trains and the relative branch length of a traction power substation should be considered in the evaluation phase of the best place to install a power transfer device, towards the reduction of the operational power losses, while maintaining the two substations balanced in terms of active power.

Overview of High Voltage SiC Power Semiconductor Devices: Development and Application

Research on high voltage(HV)silicon carbide(SiC)power semiconductor devices has attracted much attention in recent years.This paper overviews the development and status of HV SiC devices.Meanwhile,benefits of HV SiC devices are presented.The technologies and challenges for HV SiC device application in converter design are discussed.The state-of-the-art applications of HV SiC devices are also reviewed.

The effects of radiation damage on power VDMOS devices with composite SiO_2-Si_3N_4 films

Total dose effects and single event effects on radiation-hardened power vertical double-diffusion metal oxide semiconductor（VDMOS） devices with composite SiO2-Si3N4 film gates are investigated.The relationships among the important electrical parameters of the samples with different thickness SiO2-Si3N4 films,such as threshold voltage,breakdown voltage,and on-state resistance in accumulated dose,are discussed.The total dose experiment results show that the breakdown voltage and the on-state resistance barely change with the accumulated dose.However,the relationships between the threshold voltages of the samples and the accumulated dose are more complex,and not only positively drift,but also negatively drift.At the end of the total dose experiment,we select the group of samples which have the smaller threshold voltage shift to carry out the single event effect studies.We find that the samples with appropriate thickness ratio SiO2-Si3N4 films have a good radiation-hardening ability.This method may be useful in solving both the SEGR and the total dose problems with the composite SiO2-Si3N4 films.

Variants of Secondary Control with Power Recovery for Loading Hydraulic Driving Device

Current high power load simulators are generally incapable of obtaining both high loading performance and high energy efficiency. Simulators with high energy efficiency are used to simulate static-state load, and those with high dynamic performance typically have low energy efficiency. In this paper, the variants of secondary control（VSC） with power recovery are developed to solve this problem for loading hydraulic driving devices that operate under variable pressure, unlike classical secondary control（CSC） that operates in constant pressure network. Hydrostatic secondary control units are used as the loading components, by which the absorbed mechanical power from the tested device is converted into hydraulic power and then fed back into the tested system through 4 types of feedback passages（FPs）. The loading subsystem can operate in constant pressure network, controlled variable pressure network, or the same variable pressure network as that of the tested device by using different FPs. The 4 types of systems are defined, and their key techniques are analyzed, including work principle, simulating the work state of original tested device, static operation points, loading performance, energy efficiency, and control strategy, etc. The important technical merits of the 4 schemes are compared, and 3 of the schemes are selected, designed, simulated using AMESim and evaluated. The researching results show that the investigated systems can simulate the given loads effectively, realize the work conditions of the tested device, and furthermore attain a high power recovery efficiency that ranges from 0.54 to 0.85, even though the 3 schemes have different loading performances and energy efficiencies. This paper proposes several loading schemes that can achieve both high dynamic performance and high power recovery efficiency.

ANN-Based Identification of Steady-State Behavior Parameters of Composite Power Semiconductor Device Model

The paper describes the application of an ANN based approach to the identification of the parameters relevant to the steady state behavior of composite power electronic device models of circuit simulation software. The identification of model parameters of IGBT in PSPICE using BP neural network is illustrated.

A review of manufacturing technologies for silicon carbide superjunction devices

Superjunction technology is believed to reach the optimal specific on-resistance and breakdown voltage trade-off.It has become a mainstream technology in silicon high-voltage metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor devices.Numerous efforts have been conducted to employ the same concept in silicon carbide devices.These works are summarized here.

SiC gate-controlled bipolar field effect composite transistor with polysilicon region for improving on-state current

A novel silicon carbide gate-controlled bipolar field effect composite transistor with poly silicon region(SiC GCBTP)is proposed.Different from the traditional electrode connection mode of SiC vertical diffused MOS(VDMOS),the P+region of P-well is connected with the gate in SiC GCBTP,and the polysilicon region is added between the P+region and the gate.By this method,additional minority carriers can be injected into the drift region at on-state,and the distribution of minority carriers in the drift region will be optimized,so the on-state current is increased.In terms of static characteristics,it has the same high breakdown voltage(811 V)as SiC VDMOS whose length of drift is 5.5μm.The on-state current of SiC GCBTP is 2.47×10^(-3)A/μm(V_(G)=10 V,V_(D)=10 V)which is 5.7 times of that of SiC IGBT and 36.4 times of that of SiC VDMOS.In terms of dynamic characteristics,the turn-on time of SiC GCBTP is only 0.425 ns.And the turn-off time of SiC GCBTP is similar to that of SIC insulated gate bipolar transistor(IGBT),which is 114.72 ns.

NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction diodes with ultra-low leakage current below 10^(-10)A and high thermostability

The 10 nm p-NiO thin film is prepared by thermal oxidation of Ni onβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)to form NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)p-n heterojunction diodes(HJDs).The NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)HJDs exhibit excellent electrostatic properties,with a high breakdown voltage of 465 V,a specific on-resistance(Ron,sp)of 3.39 mΩ·cm^(2),and a turn-on voltage(V on)of 1.85 V,yielding a static Baliga's figure of merit(FOM)of 256 MW/cm^(2).Also,the HJDs have a low turn-on voltage,which reduces conduction loss dramatically,and a rectification ratio of up to 108.Meanwhile,the HJDs'reverse leakage current is essentially unaffected at temperatures below 170?C,and their leakage level may be controlled below 10^(-10)A.This indicates that p-NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)HJDs with good thermal stability and high-temperature operating ability can be a good option for high-performanceβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)power devices.