Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductor Devices for Next Generation Smart Power Electronics

该项目将高压超大规模集成电路(HV VLSI)技术与宽禁带(WBG)电力半导体器件相结合，以推动用于可再生能源、智能电网、智能家居、电动和混合动力汽车(EV/HEV)、电信和其他新兴工业应用的下一代智能电力电子产品。碳化硅(SiC)和氮化镓(GaN)是极具发展前景的WBG半导体材料，具有导通电阻低、击穿电压高、开关速度快、工作温度高等优点。它们可以显著节省冷却需求，并允许电源转换器具有高效率和更小的外形尺寸。根据营销公司Yole DéDevelopment pement的数据，全球对WBG功率半导体的需求以20-30%的爆炸性复合年增长率(CAGR)增长，预计到2022年市场规模将达到13.2亿美元。*我们建议研究用于下一代电力电子的WBG功率器件的设计、制造和使用的选定主题。这项探索性工作将使我们能够征集到更有针对性的未来工业项目。提出的主题包括新型垂直GaN功率器件的设计和制造，以及用于WBG功率晶体管的智能栅极驱动器IC的开发。目前商用的GaN功率晶体管大多是横向器件。它们的可靠性、处理能力和功耗都很有限。成本的快速降低和块状GaN晶片的广泛应用为探索垂直GaN功率器件提供了机会。这些垂直结构，包括GaN肖特基势垒二极管、GaN JFET和MOSFET，可以提供更好的电流处理和热性能。他们的雪崩击穿能力也将提高可靠性。我们还将开发基于高压CMOS的智能栅极驱动器IC，并采用嵌入式微处理器，用于硅、GaN和碳化硅功率晶体管。这些智能特性，如可动态编程的栅极驱动强度、精确的并行操作时序控制、死区校正和EMI抑制，将使WBG功率器件的性能得到充分发挥。高性能WBG功率器件与定制的栅极驱动器IC的结合将使智能电力电子技术更上一层楼。该项目还将支持我们在多伦多大学电动汽车研究中心(UTEV)的活动。*最后，该项目将为每年至少四名研究生提供从器件制造、集成电路设计到封装的独特的多学科培训。这一经历将使他们能够立即为加拿大的电力电子劳动力做出贡献。

This project combines High Voltage Very Large Scale Integration (HV VLSI) technology with wide-bandgap (WBG) power semiconductor devices to advance the next generation smart power electronics for renewable energy, smart grids, smart homes, electric and hybrid electric vehicles (EV/HEVs), telecommunication and other emerging industrial applications. Silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) are promising WBG semiconductor materials that have unique advantages in terms of low on-resistance, high breakdown voltage, high switching speed and high temperature operation. They can provide significant saving in cooling requirements and allow power converters to have high efficiency and smaller form factor. According to marketing firm Yole Développement, the global demand for WBG power semiconductors has an explosive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20-30%, with an estimated market size of US$1.32 billion by 2022. ***We propose to investigate selected topics on the design, fabrication, and utilization of WBG power devices for next generation power electronics. This exploratory work will allow us to solicit more focused future industrial projects. The proposed topics include the design and fabrication of novel vertical GaN power devices, and the development of smart gate driver ICs for WBG power transistors. Most current commercial GaN power transistors are lateral devices. They have limited reliability, power handling and dissipation. The rapid reduction in cost and wider availability of bulk-GaN wafers have opened up the opportunity to explore vertical GaN power devices. These vertical structures, including GaN Schottky barrier diodes, GaN JFETs and MOSFETs, can provide much better current handling and thermal performance. Their avalanche breakdown capability will also improve the reliability. We will also develop HV-CMOS based smart gate driver ICs with embedded microprocessor for silicon, GaN and SiC power transistors. These intelligent features such as dynamically programmable gate driving strength, precise timing control for parallel operation, dead-time correction and EMI suppression will allow the performance of WBG power devices to be fully exploited. The combination of high performance WBG power devices with customized gate driver ICs will bring smart power electronics technology on to the next level. This project will also support our activities at the University of Toronto EV Research Centre (UTEV).***Finally, this project will provide unique multi-disciplinary training from device fabrication, integrated circuit design to packaging for at least four graduate students each year. This experience will allow them to contribute immediately to Canada's power electronic workforce.*****