Power Technology Roadmap Forum

SiC Power device Road maps and Advancements: Materials, Die, Component, Modules and Price/Performance Metrics to Enable SiC to Go from Niche to Main Stream.

While recognizing the market opportunity pioneered by previous forms of wireless power, a single technology has yet to gain mainstream acceptance. Wireless power te​chnology that delivers spatial freedom, capable of simultaneously satisfying different power levels (from a Bluetooth headset to a Tablet device and more), are finally emerging, after considerable efforts to ensure interoperability, coexistence and the ability to be embedded in multiple environments, like furniture and the automotive environment. We will review the technical and user requirements, which the newly formed Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) is promoting through a comprehensive set of specifications.

The presentation will be composed of three parts covering from the original reasoning why Ericsson started digital power research in 2004 and the different steps Ericsson has taken to reach the 2010 goals (Energy Optimization) that were fixed at the origin of the project.

The paper will give a snapshot on dynamic bus voltage and a new trend named Fragmented Distributed Power Architectures which aims to create "Power Islands" within systems that can be operated as stand alone power unit within complex 1 kW boards. Overview of how the Ericsson DC-DC Energy Optimizer interacts at the system level in applications such as heterogeneous networks will also be presented.

Digital control loops have long been used in motor drives, inverters, and uninterruptable power supplies.  In those applications the advantages of being able to solve difficult control problems of single and multiple ac outputs have far outweighed the relatively small cost of digital signal processors and FPGAs needed to implement the controllers.

For ac-dc power supplies and dc-dc converters the advantages of a digital control loop over an analog control loop have generally not outweighed the cost and performance drawbacks.  The main advantage of digital control loops for power supplies and dc-dc converters has been programmability of the of the compensator.  There have also been some advantages to implementing nonlinear control algorithms to improve transient response.  Overall though, the adoption of digital controllers has been slow.  Many of the existing solutions, whether dedicated controllers like those from Intersil/Zilker Labs or solutions based on digital signal controllers like the dsPICs from Microchip Technologies or Piccolo processors from TI, have simply taken the design of an analog, continuous time controller and used standard technique to move these designs to discrete time based designs.

More recently commercial products have been appearing that move beyond simply adapting a continuous time design to discrete time.  The architects of these products are often highly skilled in modern control theory and have been implementing modern control techniques in controllers for power supplies and dc-dc converters.  The first of these was probably the controllers from Powervation that are able to adaptively tune the loop compensation for a wide range of loads.  Intersil/Zilker Labs followed with its own adaptive loop technology.  More recently Maxim has introduced digital controllers based on “state space techniques” that are claimed to offer optimum transient response with on-the-fly adaptation of the control loop.  Even more recently ZMDI has introduced a digital controller that can adaptively trade robust stability and fast transient response as the operating conditions change.

The introduction of these new digital controllers appears to be ushering in a new wave of advanced digital controllers.  With the cost of the 180 nm and 130 nm silicon needed to implement these controllers dropping, it is now practical to start thinking about applying modern control techniques to everyday power supplies and dc-dc converters.  The potential benefits are still being determined but the possibilities are nearly endless.  It remains to be seen whether these advanced control techniques will have real and significant economic value, but we can expect an exciting era of exploration ahead.

This presentation will start with a brief review of basic control concepts and digital control concepts in particular.  The current generation of solutions will be reviewed.  Using publicly available non-confidential information, as much as can be said about the current commercially available products will be presented.  This will include application specific products, general purpose DSCs, and products that combine general purpose processor cores (like those from ARM Technology) with advanced power specific peripherals (like multiple high resolution digital PWM outputs).  The last part of the presentation will speculate and extrapolate on where these current trends in digital controllers will take us in the next three to five years.

This presentation will put into perspective the growing use of dc microgrids in low voltage power distribution systems used on the building side of the common point of connection to public utilities.  A summary of key applications and basic system topologies will be outlined.  Key areas explored will include: technical challenges in the dc domain, source and load connectivity, power flows, communication within and between grids, and policy and regulatory issues brought forth by the use of dc and hybrid ac/dc microgrids.  The presentation will conclude with an outlook on commercial opportunities and challenges brought about by this potentially disruptive but most certain market.

The talk will focus primarily on the global market overview of the switching power supply industry with supporting data. The broad themes will cover the product segments, the size and trends of various market segments, product and technology trends (including DPA) and general mention of the major competitive landscape.

The benefits of GaN on Silicon based power conversion devices  have been much publicized recently. This presentation will review the latest status of  International Rectifiers’ GaNpowIR®  technology platform including device performance, characterization, application and reliability.  A roadmap of expected adoption by market segment will be reviewed.

 

Presenter:

Dr. Michael Briere is presently a consultant to, and formerly EVP of R&D, and CTO at International Rectifier where he was responsible for GaN development among other duties. Before joining IR, Dr. Briere held technical and leadership roles at IBM, Cherry Semiconductor, ON Semiconductor, and Vicor, where he led a start-up IC subsidiary, Picor. In addition to his time in the semiconductor industry, Dr. Briere has performed research in physics as a member of the staff at the Hahn-Meitner-Institute (HMI) in Germany and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the United States.

Dr. Briere earned his Dr. rer. nat. (Doctorate of Science) in Solid State Physics from the Technical University of Berlin and his MS in Physics and BSEE from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. He served as Associate Adjunct Professor in Physics at the University of Rhode Island. 

This talk will discuss the ac distribution and dc distribution models and the power management trends in traditional servers, blade servers, high-end and mainframe servers in the areas of efficiency, packaging, commuincation and reliabliity.

Presenter:

Randy Malik, Senior Technical Staff Member, Power Technology and Qualifications, IBM, RTP, Raleigh, NC 

It has been three years since the first gallium nitride transistors were delivered as power MOSFET replacements in a commercial DC-­DC application. Since that time there has been major interest, and rapid progress in the development and commercialization of this new technology. There have been many product launches, and even more product pre-­launches. Silicon is in retreat. In this webinar we will give an update on GaN technology, the key -- and surprising -- new applications, the latest products on the market, the latest road maps into the future.

Presenter:

Alex Lidow. CEO of Efficient Power Conversion Corporation (EPC). Prior to founding EPC, Dr. Lidow was CEO of International Rectifier Corporation. A co-inventor of the HEXFET power MOSFET, Dr. Lidow holds many patents in power semiconductor technology and has authored numerous publications on related subjects. He most recently co-authored, GaN Transistors for Efficient Power Conversion, the first textbook on GaN FET technology and applications. Lidow earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Caltech in 1975 and his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1977.

This is a power technology road map presentation of LED Industry. The discussion will cover the power requirements  for the general illumination market, the applicable standards, the lighting market size today and installed replacement opportunity.   Key points covered will include:

• Definition the “LOAD”  today (2012) and roadmap to what it will be in 2015  – examples of power requirements by major applications
• Standards summary
• Application -market adoption payback model using the streetlight example
• Market adoption models (bull/bear)

Presenter:

David Cox, Director Partner Programs, Cree Global Applications Team 

David Cox is the Director of Partner Programs at Cree Global Applications Team whose two main goals are to create an ecosystem to enable LED Lighting to replace 130 years of inefficient lighting and for SiC to go from niche to mainstream.   David has been with Cree for 3 years  and has expertise in solid state lighting systems & applications . Before joining Cree David worked at Future Electronics as a Field Applications Engineer and  Engineering Manager for 15 years.  David started his career with Exide Electronics (Now part of Eaton) designing 3 phase UPS (50KW-4 Megawatt quad redundant systems) Education: Electrical Engineering Degree from North Carolina State University

Design engineers need to consider the a large number of items when designing their LED driver.  Some items include the life of the driver often called a "ballast": Heat, life of the driver (an issue with Alum Electrolytic Capacitors), UL 8750 and newer revs. ANSI fixture specifications, Flicker for both dimming and 2 times line frequency, how to keep the Triac on when the load is light.  Also there are the 6000 Hr life test that must be integrated with the fixture to allow the 30,000 hr life to 50,000 hr life.  Maintain FCC part 15 which is 150 kHz lower limit not part 18 which is 450 kHz lower limit.  Transients from the ac line, and the ac and dc voltage input.  There are newer specs starting to emerge from the NIST and some of the National Labs.  ANSI is also putting together spec called SSL 1, SSL 6, SSL 7 and others not yet ready for publication. 

Magnetic components are essential for most power electronic circuits, but are rarely used outside of power.  This has led to less research investment and slower progress compared to other areas of electronics.  The introduction of commercial wide-band-gap semiconductors is allowing radical increases in power-converter switching frequency.  This can, in principle, lead to dramatic reduction in size of magnetics, accompanied by improvements in their efficiency.  But limitations of present winding technologies and core materials will make it difficult to fulfill this promise, making it difficult to justify investment in new semiconductors, unless improvements are made in these technologies, and in modeling, design, and measurement techniques.  

Winding and core technologies will be reviewed with an emphasis on extending capabilities to match those of wide-band-gap semiconductors.  A wide range of sizes and power levels will be considered.
 

 

Presenter:

Charles R. Sullivan is Associate Professor of Engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 1987.  From 1987 to 1990, he worked at Lutron Electronics designing electronic ballasts and high-frequency magnetics.  He received a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1996, where he developed the first high-power-density high-frequency microfabricated thin-film transformers on a silicon substrate.  Dr. Sullivan is a Senior Member of the IEEE and serves as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.  He received the AIME Electronic Materials Society Ross Tucker Award in 1995, an NSF Career Award in 1999, and an IEEE Power Electronics Society Prize Paper Award in 2000.  He has contributed to over 130 research publications and 28 issued patents. His research interests include design, modeling, and optimization of high-frequency magnetics for power conversion applications, microfabrication of thin-film magnetic components, modeling and design of capacitors, and applications and systems design issues in power electronics.

Silicon Carbide BJTs will soon be commercially available which achieve very high current density levels, high gain, and excellent switching performance. The performance tradeoffs and application merits of the technology will be discussed and compared to other high performance devices.

Presenter:

Mr. Dan Kinzer is the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Fairchild Semiconductor. His responsibilities include leading the semiconductor device, process, and packaging technology developments as well as technology strategy. He is also leading the recently acquired Silicon Carbide business. Prior to joining Fairchild, Mr. Kinzer was at International Rectifier since 1978 involved in  the development of the industry first planar power MOSFETs (HEXFETs), high-voltage LDMOS, photovoltaic relays, high voltage CMOS, power BCDMOS, IGBTs, ultrafast and Schottky rectifiers and many associated products. Mr. Kinzer is the inventor of over 70 US Patents and multiple international patents, author of numerous scientific and trade articles, served as General Chairman of the International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Circuits, and is a member of IEEE and EDS. He received his BSE degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences with a concentration in Engineering Physics from Princeton University in 1978.

High voltage switches in switch-mode power supplies are used in a variety of topologies with different expectations and requirements for performance and cost. The current evolution of high-voltage switches requires application-focused development as the design needs for PFC or hard switched topologies are rather different from optimum device characteristics for inverters or for soft-switching topologies like the LLC-Resonant HB and FB. The end application has a decided impact on component design trade-offs between Eoss and Qoss loss, gate charge and Cdv/dt control, as well as body diode behavior, and package optimizations. Both device and packaging concept evolutions will be presented to show how trends point to improved performance at various levels of complexity and cost.  

Presenter:

Jon Hancock is a Principal Applications Engineer with 27 years at Infineon Technologies, formerly known as Siemens Microelectronics before it's spinoff in 1999 as an independent company. His work background at Infineon includes Automotive power electronics, high power modules, simulation model development, and in the 2000's a focus on power conversion for SMPS and solar in a variety of application areas, both DC-DC and AC-DC. He has authored over 50 publications for Infineon, and is based in the Milpitas CA office of Infineon North America. 

 

 

Zero-voltage switching enables MHz frequency, low loss power converters. This presentation will cover the basics of ZVS and its application in AC-DC and in isolated and non-isolated DC-DC power converters to achieve extremely high efficiency high power density. Effects on filter size, output ripple, dynamic response and system capacitance requirements will be highlighted.