Abstract:

Silicon power devices have dominated power electronics due to their low cost volume production, excellent starting material quality, ease of processing, and proven reliability. Although Si power devices continue to make significant progress, they are approaching their operational limits primarily due to their relatively low bandgap and critical electric field, which result in high conduction and switching losses, and poor high temperature performance. In this presentation, the favorable material properties of Silicon Carbide, which allow for highly efficient power devices with reduced form factor and relaxed cooling requirements, will be highlighted. Device fabrication will be discussed with an emphasis on the processes that do not carry over from the mature Si manufacturing world and are thus tailored to SiC. In particular, the talk will stress the design and fabrication of SiC MOSFETs that are presently being inserted in the majority of SiC based power electronic systems. Finally, common edge termination techniques, which allow SiC devices to reach their full high-voltage potential, and their impact on device performance will be outlined.

Speaker's Biography:

Dr. Victor Veliadis is Deputy Executive Director and CTO of Power America, which is a U.S Department of Energy wide bandgap power electronics public-private Manufacturing Institute. Dr. Veliadis manages a budget in excess of $30 million per year that he strategically allocates to over 35 industrial, University, and National-Laboratory projects, to enable US leadership in WBG power electronics manufacturing, work force development, job creation, and energy savings.

Dr. Veliadis has given over 60 invited presentations/keynotes/tutorials, and is an IEEE Fellow and an IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer. He has 25 issued US patents, 3 book chapters, and 115 peer-reviewed technical publications to his credit. Dr. Veliadis is also Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1995. Prior to being named Deputy Executive Director and CTO of Power America in 2016, Dr. Veliadis spent 21 years in the semiconductor industry where his work included design, fabrication, and testing of SiC SITs, JFETs, MOSFETs, Thyristors, and JBS, Schottky, and PiN diodes in the 1-12 kV range.