Silicon Carbide Power Conversion for Telecommunications Satellite Applications

卫星和其他航天器上最先进的电力电子硬件已经达到了目前辐射硬硅技术的极限。因此，在太空中实现基于碳化硅（SiC）的功率转换是一个机会，可以带来转换器效率、尺寸和重量的阶跃变化。然而，最重要的是，SiC电子器件的更高温度额定值将首次促进电子功率调节器（EPC）与它们提供的行波管（TWT）共同位于同一热基板上。在电信卫星中，这样节省的空间以及取消高压电缆，预计可在目前最多50个的基础上再增加16个射频通道。尽管宽带隙技术在陆地应用中得到采用，特别是在电动汽车传动系统和太阳能逆变器中，但在抗辐射SiC部件方面缺乏进展。到目前为止，研究人员和公司还没有成功地尝试通过重新包装地面设备或修改传统的垂直设备拓扑结构来改造辐射硬度。然而，从硅的几十年发展来看，很明显，抗辐射器件需要自己的定制解决方案（例如绝缘体上硅或超结技术），需要优化材料和外延，器件布局和封装。在SiC抗辐射领域有相当大的创新空间，我们将开发定制的、可申请专利的SiC器件，这些器件的灵感来自于过去30年开发的抗辐射Si器件系列。该项目的目标是证明SiC功率器件可以实现抗辐射功率系统的现代化。肖特基二极管和MOSFET将在一系列新型架构中开发，其主要设计特征是对高能辐射具有免疫力。通过三个开发周期，新型SiC器件的辐射和电气性能将以商用地面SiC器件和最先进的Si器件的结果为基准。Thales Alenia Space将评估一组1200 V SiC二极管和600 V MOSFET，用于其通信卫星EPC。在项目合作伙伴的支持下，已经确定了一条基于英国的商业化路线，包括更高的TRL后续资金，以使设备接近市场。该项目将首次明确证明SiC的SEE敏感性是固有的，还是像Si一样，可以通过定制的器件设计来克服。沃里克处于实现这一飞跃的独特地位，这要归功于其学术和研究人员的专业知识，以及对其外延和制造设施的投资，这使其成为欧洲甚至世界上为数不多的研究小组之一，可以在每个发展阶段进行创新。

State-of-the-art power electronics hardware on board satellites and other space vehicles have reached the limit of current radiation-hard silicon technology. Implementation of silicon carbide (SiC)-based power conversion in space is therefore an opportunity to bring about a step change in converter efficiency, size, and weight. Most importantly however, the higher temperature rating of SiC electronics would facilitate, for the first time, the co-location of the electronic power conditioners (EPCs) onto the same thermal baseplate as the travelling wave tubes (TWTs) they supply. In a telecommunications satellite, the space saved by this, and the removal of high voltage cabling, is expected to allow for 16 more RF channels to be added to the current maximum of 50. Despite the adoption of wide bandgap technology in terrestrial applications, particularly in the electric vehicle drivetrain and in solar inverters, there is a lack of progress towards rad-hard SiC parts. Until now, researchers and companies have unsuccessfully attempted to retrofit radiation hardness, by repackaging terrestrial devices or by modifying traditional vertical device topologies. However, it is clear from decades of development in silicon that radiation hard devices require their own bespoke solutions (e.g. silicon-on-insulator or superjunction technology), requiring the materials and epitaxy, the device layout and the packaging all to be optimised. With considerable room for innovation in the SiC radiation-hard field, bespoke, patentable SiC devices will be developed, which take their inspiration from the rad-hard family of Si devices developed in the last 30 years.The ambition of this project is to prove that SiC power devices can modernise radiation-hard power systems. Schottky diodes and MOSFETs will be developed, within a range of novel architectures, with immunity to high energy radiation their primary design feature. Through three development cycles, the radiation and electrical performance of the new SiC devices will be benchmarked to results from commercial terrestrial SiC devices and the Si state of the art. A set of 1200 V SiC diodes and 600 V MOSFETs will be evaluated by Thales Alenia Space for use in their telecommunications satellite EPCs. A UK-based route to commercialisation has been identified, supported by the project partners, involving higher TRL follow-on funding to bring the devices close to market. The project shall prove definitively, for the first time, whether SEE susceptibility in SiC is inherent or, as in Si, can be overcome through bespoke device design.Warwick are uniquely positioned to make this leap, thanks to the expertise of its academic and research staff, and the investment in its epitaxy and fabrication facilities, that make it one of very few research groups in Europe, or even the world, that can innovate at every stage of development.