The continuously increasing demand for electric power and the economic access to remote renewable energy sources such as off-shore wind power or solar thermal generation in deserts have revived the interest in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) multiterminal systems (networks). A lot of work was done in this area, especially in the 1980s, but only two three-terminal systems were realized. Since then, HVDC technology has advanced considerably and, despite numerous technical challenges, the realization of large-scale HVDC networks is now seriously discussed and considered. For the acceptance and reliability of these networks, the availability of HVDC circuit breakers (CBs) will be critical, making them one of the key enabling technologies. Numerous ideas for HVDC breaker schemes have been published and patented, but no acceptable solution has been found to interrupt HVDC short-circuit currents. This paper aims to summarize the literature, especially that of the last two decades, on technology areas that are relevant to HVDC breakers. By comparing the mainly 20+ years old, state-of-the art HVDC CBs to the new HVDC technology, existing discrepancies become evident. Areas where additional research and development are needed are identified and proposed.

HVDC Circuit Breakers: A Review Identifying Future Research Needs

Condition monitoring (CM) has already been proven to be a cost effective means of enhancing reliability and improving customer service in power equipment, such as transformers and rotating electrical machinery. CM for power semiconductor devices in power electronic converters is at a more embryonic stage; however, as progress is made in understanding semiconductor device failure modes, appropriate sensor technologies, and signal processing techniques, this situation will rapidly improve. This technical review is carried out with the aim of describing the current state of the art in CM research for power electronics. Reliability models for power electronics, including dominant failure mechanisms of devices are described first. This is followed by a description of recently proposed CM techniques. The benefits and limitations of these techniques are then discussed. It is intended that this review will provide the basis for future developments in power electronics CM.

Condition Monitoring for Device Reliability in Power Electronic Converters: A Review

Silicon offers multiple advantages to power circuit designers, but at the same time suffers from limitations that are inherent to silicon material properties, such as low bandgap energy, low thermal conductivity, and switching frequency limitations. Wide bandgap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), provide larger bandgaps, higher breakdown electric field, and higher thermal conductivity. Power semiconductor devices made with SiC and GaN are capable of higher blocking voltages, higher switching frequencies, and higher junction temperatures than silicon devices. SiC is by far the most advanced material and, hence, is the subject of attention from power electronics and systems designers. This paper looks at the benefits of using SiC in power electronics applications, reviews the current state of the art, and shows how SiC can be a strong and viable candidate for future power electronics and systems applications.

Silicon carbide benefits and advantages for power electronics circuits and systems

AlGaN-GaN power high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with 600-V breakdown voltage are fabricated and demonstrated as switching power devices for motor drive and power supply applications. The fabricated power HEMT realized the high breakdown voltage by optimized field plate technique and the low on-state resistance of 3.3 m/spl Omega/cm/sup 2/, which is 20 times lower than that or silicon MOSFETs, thanks to the high critical field of GaN material and the high mobility in 2DEG channel. The fabricated devices also demonstrated the high current density switching of 850 A/cm/sup 2/ turn-off. These results show that AlGaN-GaN power-HEMTs are one of the most promising candidates for future switching power device for power electronics applications.

High breakdown voltage AlGaN-GaN power-HEMT design and high current density switching behavior

This letter reports normally-off operation of an AlGaN/GaN recessed MIS-gate heterostructure field-effect transistor with a high threshold voltage. The GaN-based recessed MIS-gate structure in conjunction with negative polarization charges under the gate allows us to achieve the high threshold voltage, whereas the low on-state resistance is maintained by the 2-D electron gas remaining in the channel except for the recessed MIS-gate region. The fabricated device exhibits a threshold voltage as high as 5.2 V with a maximum field-effect mobility of 120 cm2/Vmiddots, a maximum drain current of over 200 mA/mm, and a breakdown voltage of 400 V.

AlGaN/GaN Recessed MIS-Gate HFET With High-Threshold-Voltage Normally-Off Operation for Power Electronics Applications

Applicability of GaN in unipolar and bipolar devices for high-power electronic applications is evaluated with respect to similar devices based on other materials. Specific resistance is used as a measure of unipolar performance. In order to evaluate bipolar performance, 700 and 6000 V p-i-n diodes based on Si, 6H-SiC, and GaN are compared with respect to forward conduction and reverse recovery performance at room temperature and high-temperature conditions. It is shown that GaN is advantageous not only for high voltage unipolar applications, but also for bipolar applications. An empirical closed-form expression is presented to predict the avalanche breakdown voltage of wide band-gap semiconductors. Formulation of the expression is based on an approximation of the impact ionization coefficient in terms of seventh power of the electric field.

Performance evaluation of high-power wide band-gap semiconductor rectifiers

The application of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) in high-power converters subjects them to high-transient electrical stress such as short-circuit switching and turn-off under clamped inductive load (CIL). Robustness of IGBTs under high-stress conditions is an important requirement. Due to package limitations and thermal parameters of the semiconductor, significant self-heating occurs under conditions of high-power dissipation, eventually leading to thermal breakdown of the device. The presence of a parasitic thyristor also affects the robustness of the device. In order to develop optimized IGBTs that can withstand high-circuit stress, it is important to first understand the mechanism of device failure under various stress conditions. In this paper, failure mechanisms during short-circuit and clamped inductive switching stress are investigated for latchup-free as well as latchup-prone punchthrough IGBTs. It is shown that short-circuit and clamped inductive switching cannot be considered equivalent in the evaluation of a device safe operating area (SOA). The location of thermal failure of latchup-free punchthrough IGBTs is shown to be different for the two switching stresses.

Failure mechanisms of IGBTs under short-circuit and clamped inductive switching stress

This paper reports the internal dynamics of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT's) under short-circuit switching conditions. Short-circuit performance of IGBT's has been studied in detail with the aid of extensive measurements and numerical simulations. An advanced two-dimensional (2-D) mixed device and circuit simulator that incorporates the self-heating mechanism has been employed to examine IGBT behavior under short-circuit stress. Latch-up free punchthrough IGBT has been examined. It is shown that hot-spot generation due to current crowding and impact ionization is the cause of breakdown of an IGBT under short-circuit switching.

Investigation of the short-circuit performance of an IGBT

The turn-off of IGBTs in hard- and soft-switching converters is analyzed using nonquasi-static analysis. It is shown that while the turn-off current waveform for hard-switching is governed solely by the device for a particular value of on-state current and bus voltage, turn-off current waveform for soft-switching is strongly dependent on device-circuit interactions, so that a trade-off between turn-off loss and switching time can be made using external circuit elements. Models are developed to explain IGBT turn-off for both hard- and soft-switching conditions. Hard-switching considers both inductive and resistive loads. Calculated results are validated by comparison with results of measurements and two-dimensional (2-D) numerical simulations.

Modeling the turn-off of IGBT's in hard- and soft-switching applications

This paper presents an analytical study of the RF performance of Si power MOSFET's. Si MOSFET's are rapidly becoming popular in RF applications. Although circuit simulation models have been presented explaining the static performance of these devices, the correlation of device physical parameters with RF performance has not been studied extensively. In this paper, based on the equivalent circuit representation of a power MOSFET, static and large-signal analysis have been carried out to study the RF performance for VDMOSFET and LDMOSFET devices. It has been shown that transconductance compression due to the JFET region leads to degradation of high-power RF performance. It is also shown that LDMOSFET has higher power gain than VDMOS, but steeper degradation with input power. Velocity saturation in the MOS channel and presence of the JFET region are shown to strongly influence the RF performance of the two devices.

Malay Trivedi

Papers

Performance evaluation of high-power wide band-gap semiconductor rectifiers

Failure mechanisms of IGBTs under short-circuit and clamped inductive switching stress

Investigation of the short-circuit performance of an IGBT

Modeling the turn-off of IGBT's in hard- and soft-switching applications

Performance modeling of RF power MOSFETs