Gallium Nitride Smart Power Integrated Circuit Technology (GaN SPICe)

不可否认，有许多晶体材料超越硅基器件（如氮化镓，碳化硅和金刚石），但其制造的高成本一直是其在应用中实施的障碍，因此如今硅在半导体工业中占主导地位。氮化镓（GaN）是射频和功率应用中比硅更优越的半导体。GaN的优点是它可以在标准低成本硅晶圆（即衬底）上生长为薄层，从而实现新的功率器件系列，即硅上的功率高电子迁移率晶体管（hemt）。功率hemt速度更快，尺寸更紧凑，效率更高，价格与老化的硅等效转换器应用相当。与硅功率技术的发展类似（从分立器件到智能功率集成电路），基于GaN的集成电路的到来，GaN功率晶体管与霍尔效应和温度传感器，GaN栅极驱动器和asic的单片集成，将促进氮化镓技术在大批量应用中的广泛应用。GaN智能电源集成电路技术（GaN SPICe）项目汇集了考文垂大学和格拉斯哥大学，研究，开发和提供改变游戏规则的GaN智能电源集成技术的功能验证；该小组将成为世界上第一个将正常关闭电源的GaN HEMT与先进的电霍尔效应和温度传感器集成在一起的团队。HEMT是一种电压控制设备，芯片上监测其输出电流对电子系统的安全和长期运行至关重要，类似于监测人的心率。电流传感器是一种GaN霍尔效应器件，伴随着信号调理电路（考文垂提交的专利申请号为1913936.9），以尽量减少高温下传感器特性的漂移。这将增加功能，减少系统体积，降低组装成本，并且由于芯片温度可以主动补偿，提高功率器件的可靠性和效率。这些都是复杂电力电子系统的基本要求，特别是当安装在有限体积，恶劣（高温/振动）环境中时，例如电池电动和混合动力汽车。考文垂和格拉斯哥的独特定位使该项目取得成功，这要归功于其学术和研究人员的业绩记录和专业知识，格拉斯哥的GaN功率HEMT和考文垂的GaN霍尔效应传感器，以及对实验室设施（洁净室，设计，测试和表征实验室）的投资，使其成为英国和海外为数不多的研究联盟之一，能够在这一发展的每个阶段提供创新。

Undeniably, there are numerous crystal materials that surpass Silicon based devices (such as Gallium Nitride, Silicon Carbide and Diamond), but the high cost of their manufacturing has always been the roadblock for their implementation in applications therefore nowadays Silicon dominates the semiconductor industry. Gallium nitride (GaN) is a more superior semiconductor to Silicon for RF and Power applications. The advantage of GaN is that it can be grown as a thin layer on top of a standard low-cost Silicon wafer (i.e. substrate) enabling a new power device family, Power High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) on Silicon. Power HEMTs are faster, compact in size, more efficient and comparable in price for converter applications to their aging Silicon counterparts. Similarly to Silicon power technology development (from discrete devices to smart power integrated circuits), the arrival of GaN-based integrated circuits, GaN power transistors monolithically integrated with Hall-effect and temperature sensors, GaN gate drivers and ASICs, will facilitate widespread use of gallium nitride technology for high-volume applications.The GaN Smart Power Integrated Circuit Technology (GaN SPICe) project brings together the Universities of Coventry and Glasgow to investigate, develop and provide functional verification of the game-changing GaN smart power integrated technology; the group will be the 1st in the World to integrate a normally-off power GaN HEMT with advanced galvanic Hall-effect and temperature sensors. HEMT is a voltage controlled device and on-chip monitoring of its output current is critical for safe and long operation of an electronic system, similar to monitoring one's heart rate. The galvanic sensor is a GaN Hall-effect device accompanied by signal conditioning circuitry (with Coventry's filed patent application number 1913936.9), to minimise drift in sensor characteristics at elevated temperatures. This will increase functionality, enable a reduction of system volume, reduce cost of assembly, and as chip temperature can be actively compensated, improve reliability and efficiency of the power device. These are fundamental requirements for complex power electronics systems, in particular when installed in limited volume, hostile (high temperature/vibration) environments, such as battery electric and hybrid vehicles for example.Coventry and Glasgow are uniquely positioned to make this project success, thanks to the track record and expertise of its academic and research staff, GaN power HEMT at Glasgow and GaN Hall-effect sensors at Coventry, and the investment in their laboratory facilities (clean room, design, and test and characterisation laboratories), making it one of very few research consortiums, in the UK and overseas, capable of providing innovation at every stage of this development.