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AdvanSiC has officially launched their project website. The objective of AdvanSiC is to develop, produce, test, and validate cost-effective HV SiC MOSFET semiconductors in MVDC grid applications, a full-scale wind converter, a full-scale solar inverter, and a solid-state circuit breaker for DC converter stations.
The aim is to minimize HV SiC device cost by advancing novel design structures and process optimization. Beyond this, we shall assure an immune and reliable environment to handle SiC fast transients, as well as optimize passives and cooling system to provide cost reduction not only at device level but also at system level.
The goal of AdvanSiC is to provide industrial leadership in key and emerging technologies to SMEs, start-ups, and industry from Europe to Europe, specifically in a technology that will be key to provide clean and affordable energy.
Original – AdvanSiC
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GaN / LATEST NEWS / PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY / WBG2 Min Read
STMicroelectronics’ first galvanically isolated gate driver for gallium-nitride (GaN) transistors, the STGAP2GS, trims dimensions and bill-of-materials costs in applications that demand superior wide-bandgap efficiency with robust safety and electrical protection.
The single-channel driver can be connected to a high-voltage rail up to 1200V, or 1700V with the STGAP2GSN narrow-body version, and provides gate-driving voltage up to 15V. Capable of sinking and sourcing up to 3A gate current to the connected GaN transistor, the driver ensures tightly controlled switching transitions up to high operating frequencies.
With minimal propagation delay across the isolation barrier, at just 45ns, the STGAP2GS ensures fast dynamic response. In addition, dV/dt transient immunity of ±100V/ns over the full temperature range guards against unwanted transistor gate change. The STGAP2GS is available with separate sink and source pins for easy tuning of the gate-driving operation and performance.
Saving the need for discrete components to provide optical isolation, the STGAP2GS driver eases the adoption of efficient and robust GaN technology in various consumer and industrial applications. These include power supplies in computer servers, factory-automation equipment, motor drivers, solar and wind power systems, home appliances, domestic fans, and wireless chargers.
In addition to integrating galvanic isolation, the driver also features built-in system protection including thermal shutdown and under-voltage lockout (UVLO) optimized for GaN technology, to ensure reliability and ruggedness.
Two demonstration boards, the EVSTGAP2GS and EVSTGAP2GSN, combine the standard STGAP2GS and narrow STGAP2GSN with ST’s SGT120R65AL 75mΩ, 650V enhancement-Mode GaN transistors to help users evaluate the drivers’ capabilities.
The STGAP2GS in SO-8 widebody package, and the STGAP2GSN SO-8 narrow version, are available now, priced from $1.42 for orders of 1000 pieces.
Please visit www.st.com/stgap2gs for more information.
Original – STMicroelectronics
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DISCO Corporation opened a new mid-process research center on July 1, 2023.
As the wafers on which circuits are built in the front-end process of semiconductor manufacturing have extremely high added-value, high yield is required in the processes that follow. Among these processes, in the grinding (wafer thinning) and dicing (wafer singulation through cutting) processes handled by DISCO, there is a risk that one processing failure may cause the entire wafer’s quality to deteriorate.
Therefore, caution and accuracy are required for operations such as processing and transfer in particular. In addition, if a large number of defects occur in the back-end process, most of the time, alternative wafers cannot immediately be supplied from the front-end process. As a result, this may have a significant impact on the entire supply chain and become a large issue in the lean manufacturing of the automotive industry.
Recognizing these issues, DISCO has newly positioned these processes that are conventionally in the back-end process of semiconductor manufacturing as part of the “mid-process,” and has been proceeding with R&D in this area.
DISCO has officially established the mid-process research center as a site to conduct R&D for the mid-process and perform demonstrations for customers. This center has permanent installations of the wafer transfer system RoofWay as well as the cluster system MUSUBI, and research is underway to reduce the equipment operator’s responsibilities and improve semiconductor wafer processing and transfer quality through automation of the production system.
As semiconductor use in automotive applications is increasing, stricter quality management is being required for semiconductors as well, as they are responsible for the user’s life. Therefore, through this center, DISCO will aim at realizing a production system that eliminates operator intervention as much as possible in order to reduce quality variation that arises from human involvement.
The mid-process research center is a facility that makes verification of unmmaned processes possible by connecting a series of processes with a fully automatic transfer robot. The processes include thinning using a grinder, singulation using dicing saws and laser saws, and pickup, inspection, and measurement of die.
The mid-process research center has been partially open since December 2021, and during the time until the official opening, DISCO has been improving the level of the system by incorporating the valuable opinions of some of the invited customers. Now, as some time has passed from when the category of COVID-19 was downgraded and reclassified as a level 5 infectious disease, DISCO felt that it was finally possible to proactively welcome visitors to the center, and thus decided to make an official announcement for the opening of the center.
Original – DISCO
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The EPE ECCE Europe conference is one of the largest in the world, attracting around eight hundred experts from numerous countries every year. Aiming at exchanging experience among fellow professionals and academics, and bearing in mind the present and future role of power electronics in the big energy transition the world is looking forward to, the EPE ECCE Europe conference is the privileged place to achieve this goal. EPE’23 ECCE Europe in Aalborg will provide the opportunity to discuss hot topics through the lecture- and poster sessions, the exhibition, the industrial forums and the tutorials.
After a successful EPE ECCE Europe conference in 2007, the Power Electronics community will gather again in Aalborg, Denmark, from September 4 to 8, 2023, to exchange views on research progress and technological developments in the various topics described elsewhere in this website.
On Monday, September 4th, several tutorials will be organized, and some exciting technical visits are planned for Friday, September 8th.
The 25th Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (and Exhibition), EPE ’23 ECCE Europe (Energy Conversion Congress and Expo Europe) is co-sponsored by the EPE Association and the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS).
The conference will take place at the AKKC – The Aalborg Congress and Culture Center, in Aalborg, Denmark, and will highlight several Focus Topics:
- Tuesday 5 September:
Energy Islands
1. Renewable Energy Systems and Power-to-X
2. Energy Islands- Wednesday 6 September:
Energy Storage
3. Energy-storage Technologies
4. Electric Vehicles- Thursday 7 September:
Emerging Technologies in Power Electronics
5. Emerging Power Electronic Devices and Semiconductors
6. Reliability and Artificial Intelligence in Power ElectronicsOriginal – EPE’23 ECCE Europe