Silicon Compatible GaN Power Electronics

电力电子很少见，但如果没有它们，我们的日常生活将会非常不同。电力电子产品对于延长手机的电池寿命、最大化高压输电线路的效率至关重要。它们可以在铁路、混合动力汽车、电视和节能照明中找到。虽然电力电子可能不是显而易见的，但对于实现政府设定的二氧化碳减排目标是至关重要的。在工厂中使用这些技术控制电机，预计将在英国节省高达9%的总电能消耗。此外，电力电子将是控制未来低碳经济的可再生能源的关键，到2020年，可再生能源将占我们能源的30%。由于预计能效将比目前的硅器件提高50%，由氮化镓(与用于低能耗LED的半导体材料相同)生产的晶体管有可能给电力电子带来革命性的变化。通过合作，来自格拉斯哥大学、剑桥大学、诺丁汉大学、利物浦大学、布里斯托尔大学、谢菲尔德大学和曼彻斯特大学的研究团队将开发和制作具有世界领先性能的高效氮化镓电力电子器件的原型。关键的是，将开发在硅片制造设施中制造的路线。对于英国的19家硅制造厂来说，做出这些步骤的改变是一个绝佳的机会，因为全球电力电子市场目前价值1350亿GB，每年以10%的速度增长。结果还将支持高价值制造业的下一代应用，包括汽车、航空航天、消费电子、照明、医疗保健和能源行业等英国传统优势。毫不奇怪，全球氮化镓电力电子领域的竞争是激烈的，最近在欧洲、美国和远东建立了一些备受瞩目的研究项目。这个英国的旗舰项目是由世界领先的大学研究小组组成的联盟，他们拥有与世界其他地区成功竞争的技能、专业知识和临界质量。为了实现我们具有挑战性的目标，剑桥、诺丁汉和谢菲尔德将共同致力于在硅衬底上生长和评估氮化镓材料，以生产制造所需的初始半导体晶圆。Bristol&Nottingham将对器件性能进行详细的模拟，以便为选择氮化镓材料以及各种应用的特定晶体管结构提供信息。格拉斯哥&利物浦将结合专业知识，开发出使用“硅友好型”方法制造氮化镓晶体管的工艺，然后将这些工艺结合起来，生产出世界领先的器件。曼彻斯特、诺丁汉和布里斯托尔将评估测量系统中的晶体管，这些系统模仿电力电子设备所需的各种现实应用。在整个项目中，团队之间将不断进行反馈，以确保生产出优化的器件。出于科学、技术和经济方面的原因，多家总部位于英国的公司，包括半导体晶圆增长、硅基电力电子器件制造和使用电力电子元件的系统供应商，都与该项目结盟，热衷于利用研究成果。通过使用硅制造方法开发世界领先的氮化镓电力电子元件，该项目直接与英国工程和物理科学研究理事会能源效率和制造未来战略保持一致，将提供国际领先的科学成果和下一代技术，英国公司将能够迅速推进这些技术，从而实现学术影响和经济效益的最大化。

Power electronics are seldom seen, yet our daily lives would be very different without them. Power electronics are crucial to improving the battery life of a mobile phone & to maximising the efficiency of high-voltage transmission lines. They are found in railways & hybrid cars, in TVs & energy efficient lighting. Although not perhaps obvious, power electronics are vital to meeting the CO2 reduction targets set by Government. The use of these technologies in the control of electrical machines in factories is predicted to save up to 9% of total electrical energy consumption in the UK. In addition, power electronics are going to be key to controlling the renewable energy sources of the future low carbon economy, which will be producing 30% of our energy by 2020. With a predicted 50% improvement in energy efficiency over current silicon devices, transistors produced from gallium nitride (the same semiconductor material used in low energy LEDs) have the potential to revolutionise power electronics. By working together, research teams from the Universities of Glasgow, Cambridge, Nottingham, Liverpool, Bristol, Sheffield & Manchester will develop & prototype highly efficient, gallium nitride power electronics devices with world-leading performance. Critically, routes to manufacture in a silicon wafer fabrication facility will be developed. Making these step changes is an outstanding opportunity for the 19 silicon manufacturing facilities in the UK, as the global power electronics market is currently worth £135 billion, & growing at a rate of 10% per annum. The outcomes will also underpin next generation applications in high-value manufacturing sectors including traditional UK strengths such as the automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, lighting, healthcare & energy industries. .Not surprisingly, global competition in the area of gallium nitride power electronics is fierce, & a number of high profile research projects have recently been established in Europe, the US & the Far East. This flagship UK project is a consortium of world-leading University research groups who together have the skill, expertise & critical mass to compete successfully against the rest of the world. To achieve our challenging goals, Cambridge, Nottingham & Sheffield will together focus on the growth & evaluation of gallium nitride materials on silicon substrates to produce the starting semiconductor wafers required for manufacture. Bristol & Nottingham will perform detailed simulations of device performance to inform the choice of gallium nitride materials & also the specific transistor structures for the various applications. Glasgow & Liverpool will combine expertise to develop procedures for the manufacture of gallium nitride transistors using "silicon friendly" approaches & then combine these processes to produce world-leading devices. Manchester, Nottingham & Bristol will evaluate the transistors in measurement systems which mimic the various real world applications for which power electronics are required. Throughout the project, there will be continual feedback between the teams to ensure that optimsied devices are produced.For scientific, technical & economic reasons, a number of UK based companies spanning semiconductor wafer growth, silicon based power electronics device manufacture, & systems suppliers using power electronics components have aligned themselves with the project, keen to exploit the outcomes of the research. By developing world-leading gallium nitride power electronics components using silicon manufacturing approaches, this project, which is directly aligned with the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council energy efficiency & manufacturing the future strategies , will deliver internationally leading scientific outputs & next generation technologies which UK companies will be in a position to quickly take forward thereby maximising both academic impact & economic benefit.