Silicon Carbide Power Conversion for Telecommunications Satellite Applications

卫星和其他太空飞行器上最先进的电力电子硬件已经达到了当前抗辐射硅技术的极限。因此，在空间实现基于碳化硅(SIC)的功率转换是实现转换器效率、尺寸和重量阶梯式变化的机会。然而，最重要的是，碳化硅电子器件的较高额定温度将首次促进电子功率调节器(EPC)与它们所供应的行波管(TWT)位于同一热底板上。在通信卫星中，这样节省的空间，以及高压电缆的移除，预计将允许在目前最大50个射频通道的基础上再增加16个射频通道。尽管在地面应用中采用了宽带隙技术，特别是在电动汽车驱动系统和太阳能逆变器中，但在耐辐射的碳化硅部件方面缺乏进展。到目前为止，研究人员和公司一直试图通过重新包装地面设备或修改传统的垂直设备拓扑来提高辐射耐受性，但都没有成功。然而，几十年来硅的发展清楚地表明，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)，要求材料和外延、器件布局和封装都得到优化。在碳化硅抗辐射领域有相当大的创新空间，将开发定制的、可申请专利的碳化硅器件，其灵感来自于过去30年发展的抗辐射硅器件家族。该项目的雄心是证明碳化硅功率器件可以使辐射-硬功率系统现代化。肖特基二极管和MOSFET将在一系列新的架构中开发，其主要设计特点是对高能辐射具有免疫力。通过三个开发周期，新的碳化硅设备的辐射和电气性能将以商业陆地碳化硅设备和硅技术水平的结果为基准。泰利斯阿莱尼亚空间公司将评估一套1200 V碳化硅二极管和600 V MOSFET，用于其通信卫星EPC。在项目合作伙伴的支持下，已经确定了一条在英国实现商业化的途径，涉及更高的TRL后续资金，以使设备接近市场。该项目将首次明确证明，碳化硅的SEE敏感性是固有的，还是可以通过定制的器件设计来克服。由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，华威处于独特的地位，能够实现这一飞跃，这使其成为欧洲乃至世界上极少数能够在发展的每个阶段进行创新的研究小组之一。

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.