High-Reliability Fault-Tolerant Gallium Nitride Power Electronic Converters and ICs

在过去的50年里，电力电子转换器（PEC）在运输、工业、商业和住宅领域的全球能源效率稳步提高中发挥了关键作用。如今，功率半导体市场规模已超过140亿美元，年增长率超过10%。2018年IPCC最新报告强调了对廉价但可靠的低碳技术的迫切需求。需要快速大规模部署光伏（PV）发电和电动汽车（EV），以缓解我们的全球能源挑战。加拿大的光伏发电量将从2015年的2吉瓦迅速增长到2040年的8至25吉瓦，这取决于公共政策和光伏技术成本的大幅降低。当使用可再生能源充电时，电动汽车的效率为73%，而汽油动力汽车的效率为13%，但电动汽车目前在加拿大汽车市场的份额不到1%。** 宽带隙功率半导体器件，即碳化硅（SiC）和氮化镓（GaN），引发了电力电子领域的一场革命。这使得佩奇通过高频开关和低损耗实现了前所未有的功率密度。SiC的击穿场强是硅的10倍，热导率高2.5倍。GaN技术预计到2022年市场规模将达到3.2亿美元，由于击穿场强高出2.5倍，因此有望比SiC提供更好的性能。硅基GaN横向器件提供了一个独特的机会，不仅可以在芯片上集成多个功率器件，还可以集成栅极驱动器，甚至是先进的控制和保护电路。因此，GaN特别适合用于PV、EV和数据中心应用中的许多PEC拓扑结构。该研究计划将专注于基于GaN的高压佩奇，具有两个互补流：1）GaN集成电路和2）用于容错和系统可靠性增强的架构和控制技术。最近的文献证明了高压GaN功率IC和转换器的可行性和前景，但仍有许多关键问题需要解决：1）功率级/驱动器/控制特征的最佳集成水平是什么，2）在GaN模拟电路中实际上可以实现什么性能，3）尽管器件限制，在GaN中什么水平的数字功能是可行的，4）单片电流保护能否克服GaN中短路抗扰度的不足，以及5）如何利用健康状态监控来提高系统可靠性。** 该五年计划将资助八名HQP（四名博士生和四名硕士生）。该计划的成果将回答有关清洁技术应用中高度集成GaN功率转换器的可行性和优势的关键问题。该计划将增加加拿大在电力电子和能源管理方面的竞争优势，无论是从直接的商业化潜力，以及高影响力的HQP培训。该计划与NSERC的2020年战略计划直接一致，以应对全球能源共同挑战。*****

Power Electronic Converters (PEC) have played a pivotal role in the steadily increasing global energy efficiency over the past 50 years, across transportation, industrial, commercial and residential sectors. The power semiconductor market has exceeded $ 14 Billion today with an annual growth rate above 10%. The latest 2018 IPCC report underscores the urgent need for cheap yet reliable low-carbon technologies. Rapid mass-deployment of Photovoltaics (PV) generation and Electric Vehicles (EV) is needed to alleviate our global energy challenges. PV generation in Canada will rapidly grow from 2 GW in 2015 to between 8 and 25 GW by 2040, depending on public policy and drastic cost reductions in PV technology. When charged from renewable energy, EVs have an efficiency of 73%, compared to 13% for gasoline powered cars, yet EVs represent less than 1% of the car market in Canada today. ******Wide-bandgap power semiconductor devices, namely Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN), have spawned a revolution in power electronics. This has led to PECs with unprecedented power density enabled by high-frequency switching and low losses. SiC offers 10x the breakdown field of silicon with 2.5x higher thermal conductivity. GaN technology, with a projected market of $ 320 Million by 2022, promises even better performance than SiC due to a 2.5x higher breakdown field. GaN-on-silicon lateral devices offer a unique opportunity to integrate not only multiple power devices on chip, but also gate-drivers and even advanced control and protection circuits. GaN is thus uniquely suited to many PEC topologies used in PV, EV and datacenter applications. This research program will focus on high-voltage GaN based PECs with two complimentary streams: 1) GaN integrated circuits and 2) architectures and control techniques for fault tolerance and system reliability enhancement. The recent literature demonstrates both the feasibility and promise of high-voltage GaN power ICs and converters, however many key questions need to be addressed: 1) what is the best level of integration for power-stage/driver/control features, 2) what performance can practically be achieved in GaN analog circuits, 3) what level of digital functionality is feasible in GaN despite device limitations, 4) can monolithic current protection overcome the lack of short-circuit immunity in GaN, and 5) how can state-of-health monitoring be leveraged to enhance system reliability. ******The five-year program will fund eight HQPs (four PhD and four Masters students). The program outcomes will answer key questions about the viability and advantages of highly integrated GaN power converters in clean-tech applications. This program will grow Canada's competitive advantage in power electronics and energy management, both from the direct commercialization potential, as well as the high-impact HQP training. This program is directly aligned with NSERC's 2020 strategic plan to address shared global challenges in energy. *****