IEEE Power Electronics - March 2017

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THE WORLDS NEWSSTAND
EconoPACK 4
The world standard for 3-level applications
The EconoPACK 4 is an optimized module for 3-level applications such as

Uninterruptible Power Supply
Solar Inverter
High Speed Drives
where a robust design, high efficiency and less harmonics are needed.
For these applications starting with 50kW up to 125kW, the EconoPACK 4 can be used to build up one phase. For higher
power ratings modules can be switched in parallel. All modules are equipped with the state-of-the-art IGBT4. Further
information is available on request.
The degree of efficiency for the two 3-level topologies, NPC1 and NPC2, has to be evaluated depending on the switching
frequency.
EconoPACK 4 NPC2 topology for low and medium switching frequencies (approx. fsw< 12kHz)
EconoPACK 4 NPC1 topology for high switching frequencies (approx. fsw12kHz)
NPC1 topology NPC2 topology
650V IGBT4 650V/650V IGBT4
Optimized for fsw12kHz 650V/1200V IGBT4
Portfolio Optimized for fsw<12kHz
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F3L300R07PE4 F3L400R07PE4_B26
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F3L400R12PT4_B26
www.infineon.com/highpower
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Vol. 4, No. 1 www.pels.org

March 2017
For your engineering success
Features
14 Standards in Power Electronics

Insight on handling current standards
Peter Wilson
19 Efficiency Regulations
Driving power conversion efficiency designs
Rich Fassler
25 How GaN Power Transistors

Drive High-Performance Lidar
Generating ultrafast pulsed power with GaN FETs
John Glaser
On the cover
IEEE standards are developed using a time-tested,
effective, and trusted six-stage process. Compliance
to standards in power electronics ensure product
36 Generation-After-Next Power Electronics
Ultrawide-bandgap devices, high-temperature packaging,
interoperability, performance, safety, and reliability in
end applications. and magnetic nanocomposite materials
ARROWS INFOGRAPHIC ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/THESEAMUSS,
BACKGROUND IMAGE LICENSED BY INGRAM PUBLISHING,
Robert J. Kaplar, Jason C. Neely, Dale L. Huber,
POWER ELECTRONICS APPLICATIONS CHART CREATED
BY KARIN ALVARADO, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS and Lee J. Rashkin
43 Tantalum Capacitor Technology

Options for high-temperature and harsh-environment applications
Chris Reynolds
Departments 61
& Columns
4 From the Editor

8 Presidents Message
10 Happenings
48 Patent Reviews
50 Expert View
53 Member and Industry Profile
61 Society News
70 Member News
72 Event Calendar
76 White Hot
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2017.2650202
March 2017 ]IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 1
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IEEE Power Electronics Magazine

Editor-in-Chief IEEE Power Electronics 2018 Members-at-Large Advertising Sales
Ashok Bindra Society Officers Liuchen Chang Walter Chalupa
12 Magnolia Ave. Alan Mantooth lchang@unb.ca
________ United States, Africa, Asia,
Nesconset, NY 11767 USA President Canada, Central and South
William Gerard Hurley
+1 631 471 5895 mantooth@uark.edu
__________ America, and Europe
gerard.hurley@nuigalway.ie
_______________
Telephone: +1 973 835 7015
bindra1@verizon.net
___________
Braham Ferreira Katherine Kim wchalupa@aol.com
__________
Immediate Past President katakim@gmail.com
Deputy Editors-in-Chief ___________
Ira J. Pitel (Industry)
Nominations Committee Chair IEEE Power Electronics
j.a.ferreira@tudelft.nl Ernie Parker
Magna-Power Electronics, Inc. ____________
ernie.parker@crane-eg.com Society Staff
______________
39 Royal Road Don F.D. Tan Mike Kelly
Flemington, NJ 08822 USA Senior Past President, PELS Grant Pitel Executive Director
+1 908 237 2200 ext. 102 Long-Range Planning grantpitel@gmail.com
____________ m.p.kelly@ieee.org
__________
ipitel@magna-power.com
_____________ Committee Chair Seung-Ki Sul Donna Florek
John Shen (Academic) dong.tan@ngc.com
__________ sulsk@plaza.snu.ac.kr
___________ Technical Community
Grainger Chair Professor Mario Pacas Program Specialist
Executive VP Conferences 2019 Members-at-Large d.florek@ieee.org
_________
Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering pacas@uni-siegen.de
___________ Sibylle Dieckerhoff Becky Boresen
Illinois Institute of Technology diecker@win.tu-berlin.de
_____________ Technical Community
Yan-Fei Liu Program Specialist
10 West 35th Street, Suite 1600 VP Technical Operations Dan Kinzer
Chicago, IL 60616 USA b.boresen@ieee.org
__________
yanfei.liu@queensu.ca
____________ dan.kinzer@navitassemi.com
_______________
+1 312 567-3352 Alicia Tomaszewski
zjohnshen@gmail.com
____________ Luichen Chang Marco Liserre Project Manager Transportation
VP Conferences liserre@gmail.com
__________ Electrification Community
Tim Keim (Contributing) lchang@unb.ca
________
+1 352 363 6688 Annette Mtze a.tomaszewski@ieee.org
_____________
tkeim@alum.mit.edu
___________ Frede Blaabjerg muetze@tugraz.at
_________ Kellie Gilbert
VP Products Editorial Assistant/News Editor
fbl@iet.aau.dk
________
Joo O.P. Pinto kellie.gilbert@ieee.org
Magazine Advisory Board ____________
joaonofre@gmail.com
____________
Alan Mantooth Peter Wilson
President Executive VP Standards IEEE Periodicals
IEEE Power Electronics Society prw30@bath.ac.uk
__________ Technical Committee Chairs Magazines Department
John Hawkins 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ
Braham Ferreira Jian Sun Communications Energy Systems 08854 USA
Immediate Past President Treasurer jmhawkins@ieee.org
___________ Jessica Barragu
IEEE Power Electronics Society jsun@ecse.rpi.edu
__________
Managing Editor
Yaow-Ming Chen
Don F.D. Tan Jinjun Liu High Performance and Emerging Geraldine Krolin-Taylor
Senior Past President Executive VP Membership Technologies Senior Managing Editor
IEEE Power Electronics Society liu_jinjun@ieee.org
__________ ymchen@cc.ee.ntu.edu.tw
______________ Janet Dudar
John M. Miller Hirofumi Akagi Senior Art Director
JNJ Miller plc Uday Deshpande
Division II Director Motor Drives and Actuators
akagi@ee.titech.ac.jp Gail A. Schnitzer, Mark Morrissey
Philip T. Krein ___________ udayd@ieee.org
________ Associate Art Directors
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign 2017 Members-at-Large Rolando Burgos Theresa L. Smith
Power and Control Core Production Coordinator
Robert N. Guenther Robert Balog
Robert.Balog@ieee.org Technologies Mark David
NWL ____________
rburgos@ieee.org
__________ Sr. Manager Advertising and
Ira J. Pitel Johan Enslin Business Development
Magna-Power Electronics jenslin@clemson.edu
___________
Robert Pilawa
Power Conversion Systems Felicia Spagnoli
Prasad Enjeti Helen Li and Components Advertising Production Manager
Texas A&M University hli@caps.fsu.edu
_________ pilawa@illinois.edu
__________
Peter M. Tuohy
John Shen William Peterson Sudip Mazumder Production Director
Illinois Institute of Technology peterson@EandMPower.com
_______________ Sustainable Energy Systems Dawn M. Melley
Bob White Pradeep Shenoy mazumder@uic.edu
__________ Editorial Director
Embedded Power Labs pshenoy@ti.com
_________ Alireza Khaligh Fran Zappulla
William A. Peterson Shinzo Tamai Vehicle and Transportation Systems Staff Director,
E&M Power tamai.shinzo@tmeic.co.jp
_____________ khaligh@ece.umd.edu
____________ Publishing Operations
IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying.

For more information, visit http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html.
IEEE Power Electronics Magazine (ISSN 2329-9207) (IPEMDG) is published quarterly by the Institute of Electrical and
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Promoting Sustainable Forestry

_____
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2017.2660138 SFI-01681
2 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017
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From the Editor

by Ashok Bindra
Generating Standards
Is a Long Process
T
o begin the new year, Prof. some light on this complicated topic. their requirements are having on acdc
Alan Mantooth of the Univer- In his article, Standards in Power power conversion designs. In addition
sity of Arkansas took up the Electronics, Prof. Wilson attempts to to presenting details of a few efficiency
baton from outgoing IEEE Power address commonly asked questions programs, the article also describes in-
Electronics Society (PELS) President from practicing engineers. Besides novative power integrated circuits that
Prof. Braham Ferreira, whose two- identifying important standards orga- enable conformance to new and pro-
year term ended in December 2016. nizations around the world, the article posed efficiency requirements.
In those two years, Prof. Ferreira has also describes how The article How
done a tremendous job in extending standards are devel- GaN Power Transis-
the Societys global reach, driving oped. He provides a It was a pleasure tors Drive High-Perfor-
new initiatives, and setting the stage flow diagram that working with Prof. mance Lidar, by John
for its growth around the world. It graphically takes you Glaser of Efficient
Ferreira, whose
was a pleasure working with Prof. from the first stage in Power Conversion
Ferreira, whose support and guid- the process, which
support and guidance Corp., provides some
ance helped the magazine flourish. I is the development helped the magazine background infor-
look forward to working with Prof. of an idea, to the last flourish. mation on the light-
Mantooth, who has briefly outlined step when the stan- detection-and-ranging
his vision for the Society in his first dard is published. (lidar) instrument,
Presidents Message in this issue of However, the process must be reviewed including its inner workings. He then
IEEE Power Electronics Magazine. and updated after ten years; updates discusses laser diode drivers and the
Prof. Mantooth is also actively used to be required every five years. benefits of using GaN FETs in this appli-
involved in the standards process at In addition, this article discusses cation. Moreover, he argues why eGaN
the IEEE as well as cybersecurity for the role of the PELS Standards Com- FET characteristics are more desirable
power electronics. mittee in the development of the In- for this design. Measured performance
Interestingly, this issue of IEEE ternational Technology Roadmap for is presented to support the discussion.
Power Electronics Magazine focuses Wide-Bandgap Power Semiconduc- The article Generation-After-Next
on standards in power electronics. It tor (ITRW). As per the article, the Power Electronics, by Robert Kaplar,
is a difficult and complex issue, one role of the ITRW is to establish some Jason Neely, Dale Huber, and Lee Rash-
that is not so easy to interpret and of the key criteria in a framework kin of Sandia National Laboratories,
implement as there are so many orga- of metrics for wide-bandgap power reviews recently developed optimiza-
nizations and multiple standards. As semiconductors, in the context of tion methods for designing converters
a result, engineers often struggle to power electronic systems, to enable to operate at the limits of performance.
adopt the correct standard. We invited specific technical work and standards Several developing technologies are
Prof. Peter Wilson of the University of activities to beundertaken. discussed that are expected to greatly
Bath, United Kingdom, who is also the In the second article on this topic, increase power converter densities.
PELS director of standards, to shed Rich Fassler of Power Integrations These include recently developed
discusses different types of efficiency ultrawide-bandgap semiconductor de-
regulations that have emerged in the vices, complementary balance of the
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 last decade and the major impact system components including compact
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high-voltage device packaging capable patent, the White Hot column moti- bandgap power devices and applica-
of >10 kV hold-off, and next-generation vates engineers to attend PELS-spon- tions overview. Member News an-
developments in high-frequency soft sored conferences, especially the IEEE nounces newly elected IEEE Fellows.
magnetic materials and revolutionary International Communications Energy IEEE Power Electronics Maga-
thermal management approaches. Conference (INTELEC), which has a zine is in its fourth year. The last
The last article in this issue, Tan- long history that predates the PELS. three years have been positive, and
talum Capacitor Technology by The Member and Industry Pro- the magazine has grown both in the
Chris Reynolds, AVX Corp., discuss- file column highlights the accom- number of editorial pages and ads.
es the need for components capable plishments and contributions of Delta With your continued support and co-
of enduring temperatures up to and Groups founder and honorary chair, operation, I am confident that it will
exceeding 200 C. Advanced down- Bruce C.H. Cheng. Written by Prof. perform even better this year. Be-
hole, underhood automotive, and Fred Lee, the article illustrates the life cause your comments and feedback
aerospace systems rely on compo- and a career of a Chinese visionary are important for improving the
nents delivering optimal perfor- entrepreneur dedicated to energy sav- quality of content and information in
ma nce while subject to extreme ings and sustainability. the magazine, please continue send-
environmental conditions. Society News presents an Ap- ing your ideas and suggestions. It
plied Power Electronics Conference helps us make IEEE Power Electron-
Exciting Content in Our Columns 2017 preview; a review of the 2016 ics Magazine a valuable resource for
In the Happenings column, contribut- International Conference on Sustain- practicing power electronics engi-
ing writer Tom Keim uncovers three- able Energy Technologies in Hanoi, neers around the world. Thanks for
dimensional printing in power electron- Vietnam, sponsored by the IEEE In- your continued support.
ics manufacturing. While the Patent dustrial Applications Society and the
Reviews column discusses a design PELS Singapore Chapter; and a wide-
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Presidents Message
by Alan Mantooth
Minding the Present

While Looking to the Future
I
t is my honor to take the reins of year. Of course, there may be addi- symposia, transactions special issues,
the IEEE Power Electronics tional initiatives that emerge through and supporting our larger conferences
Society (PELS) for the next two conversations with you, the members such as the IEEE Applied Power Elec-
years as Society president. I want to of our Society. tronics Conference and Exposition
begin by offering my thanks to out- and the IEEE Energy Conversion
going President Braham Ferreira for Ongoing Activities Congress and Exposition. We do not
his service for the past two years. As a result of consistently strong lead- expect the TC structure to be rigid. As
He has done a great job and leaves ership, PELS finds itself in very good our field is expanding, our technical
the Society moving forward effec- shape in many important aspects activities will also expand.
tively. Any incoming leader to an including financial, membership, pub- Our Society publications are at an
organization has to be mindful of lications, conferences, standards, all-time high. We have several highly
the road that organization has trav- global participation, industry partici- regarded transactions that we par-
eled; while ensuring that the busi- pation, and young professional pro- ticipate in or own outright. Due to
ness of the organization is properly grams. Our efforts in each of these the tireless efforts of our editors and
handled, new initiatives are pur- areas continue to lead to growth and editorial boards, time to publication
sued, and proper strategic planning improvements. But this is no time to is good, impact factors are outstand-
for the organization is conducted. In be complacent. Our field is growing in ing, and everyone generally feels good
this way, I have often referred to the importance to many systems in our about their progress. The same can
role of the president as that of a world, and our Society must continue be said of our conferences and work-
middle-leg relay runner in track and to keep pace with these advances shops. Attendance is growing and re-
field. The baton is passed on from while simultaneously offering value to flects the growing interest in our vari-
the previous runner and handed off our members. ous application spaces within power
to the next one. In between, the cur- Our current technical committee electronics.
rent runners job is to execute effec- (TC) structure reflects changes the As outlined by Braham in previ-
tively (i.e., run as fast as you can) Society instituted over the past five ous columns, PELS has several new
and ensure a successful hand off to years or so. As vice president of tech- initiatives that have resulted from
the next runner. nical operations, I oversaw much of our strategic planning efforts over the
I have taken the past few months that implementation. We now have past couple of years. For instance, in
to give careful consideration to the processes in place to rotate our lead- 2016, we began new initiatives in hu-
things that I want to undertake during ership and involve more volunteers in manitarian efforts, technology road
my tenure as president. Due to pub- Society affairs. In general, we feel that mapping, and education that are all
lication deadlines for this magazine, this is good for the Society and gives outcomes from recent strategic plan-
I am writing this before I have taken greater opportunity for a wider range ning activities that the Society has
office; however, I would like to take of people to participate, grow their undertaken. Another area being in-
this opportunity to outline some of network of peers, and cultivate future vestigated from a power electronic
my preliminary thoughts for the next leaders. Our TCs will continue to play systems perspective is cybersecurity.
a vital role in strategic planning going The Society has an ad hoc committee
forward in addition to running their
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 normal affairs such as workshops, (continued on page 71)
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______________
___________________
________________
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Happenings
by Tom Keim
Three-Dimensional Printing in
Power Electronics Manufacturing
T
hree-dimensional (3-D) print- of a complex object to its production However, the number of possible
ing has been around since at is one of the fundamental attractions future applications of 3-D printing
least the early 1980s. By now, of 3-D printing. still far outweighs the number of
the basic concept is widely known The first working systems used cases where the new technique has
and well understood. A largely pla- photo-polymerizing liquids and ultravi- found its way out of the laboratory
nar object is formed by processing a olet lasers. Much of the progress over and into the factory. The power elec-
material only at selected locations the intervening decades has been in tronics industry still seems to be
on a plane, producing a result that the expansion of the number and poised to participate in this transi-
has some small projection in the variety of materials tion. Certainly, there
direction perpendicular to the plane. that can be used to is widespread aware-
A new plane is defined a small dis- produce objects in ness of the potential
This capability to
tance above the original plane, and this general way. of this new technol-
another planar object, which can be Today, binding agents
move directly from ogy in the power
the same as or different from the can be sprayed onto a computer model of electronics commu-
first, is formed in the second plane. powder (using devic- a complex object to nity. There are exam-
The second planar object is fused to es that might be its production is one ples, some highly
the first over their area of overlap. called binder-jet pri- of the fundamental publicized, of dem-
The process is repeated over and nters, by analogy to onstrations using the
attractions of
over, and one or more solid objects ink-jet printers). Ther- technology in the pro-
are formed. moplastics can be
3-D printing. duction of a power
The formation of an individual used. Of industrial electronics system.
planar object is conceptually nearly importance, objects However, it has prov-
identical to the operation of an ink-jet can be formed with bound-together en quite difficult to learn of an instance
printer. In exactly the way that an metal powders, possibly by local where the power electronics industry
image can be produced with an ink- melting and fusing, and then sin- has used 3-D printing in the produc-
jet printer in response to a data set tered to form metallic objects. tion of a series of identical products.
consisting of a small number of bits The days of maximum hype over There are some notable achieve-
corresponded to each pixel in a two- 3-D printing appear to be over. In 2014 ments. In 2014, researchers at the Oak
dimensional array, each layer in the and 2015, the Gartner Hype Cycle Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
output of a 3-D printer can be pro- report indicated that the technology built a very compact inverter using
duced in response to an easily was past both the peak of inflated some 3-D-printed parts. In a press
defined data set. It is easy to under- expectations and the trough of disillu- release [4], the laboratory announced
stand how a computer representation sionment and on the slope of enlight- a liquid-cooled, all-silicon-carbide,
of any solid object can be used to enment [1], [2]. In 2016, 3-D printing traction drive inverter, (which) fea-
drive a 3-D printer. This capability to did not even appear on the chart [3]. tures 50% printed parts (Figure 1).
move directly from a computer model There are already significant According to the press release, Initial
examples where 3-D-printed parts evaluations confirmed an efficiency
are used in important industrial prod- of nearly 99%, surpassing DOEs
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 ucts and even products for retail sale. power electronics target and setting
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the stage for building an admission of such process-

inverter using entirely addi- ing is provided either.
tive manufacturing tech- In summary, this work rep-
niques. For additional dis- resents a competent bit of engi-
cussion on additive manufac- neering development, but it
turing, see 3 -D Printing does not appear to be close to
Versus Additive Manufactur- the one-click-from-specification-
ing. From the press release, to-inverter vision, let alone an
a nd f rom t he bu zz t hat inverter built entirely by 3-D
occurred on the Internet fol- printing. It is true that the orig-
lowing its release, one might inal press release made no
be led to believe that one claim to this capability or even
could put a set of specifica- aspirations to such capability,
tions into a program, press a but perhaps the ORNL press
button, and out would pop a people should read the report
workinginverter. FIG 1 A 30-kW inverter built by ORNL with silicon carbide by Gartner.
Burak Ozpineci of ORNL metaloxidesemiconductor field-effect transistor incorpo- There are other groups
rates 3-D printed heat sink. (Figure courtesy of the Depart-
provided a few peer-reviewed doing enough in this field to
ment of Energy and ORNL.)
references repor ting this merit notice. Perhaps first
work [5][7]. A careful read- among them is led by Prof.
ing of these publications tells a deposition melting [of] common Douglas C. Hopkins at North Caroli-
more modest story. The team did ABS plastic. This material choice na State University. Prof. GQ Lu at
some work that goes a long way was evidently made to facilitate Virginia Tech is also noteworthy. No
toward establishing that present making the part by 3-D printing and other group leaves the same Internet
day 3-D-printed aluminum material not because the material is especial- presence as does the ORNL effort. It
can be competitive with a common ly well suited to the application. is probable that neither these groups
extrudable, heat-treatable alumi- No discussion is provided con- nor most others have as many staff
num alloy for thermal conductivity. cerning the economic viability of the members available to apply to the
The prototype inverter was made printed parts of the inverter or of the advancement of 3 -D printing in
with a 3-D-printed heat sink. How- inverter itself. Claims are made for power electronics.
ever, claims to great significance superior performance of a printed Of course, if there were a com-
beyond this are not strongly sup- heat sink, due to the possibility of mercial company planning to use
ported by the cited references. No complex internal structure, but the 3-D printing in the production of
support is provided for the claim of data supporting these claims do not power electronic components or sys-
50% printed parts, for example. Only apply to the geometry included in tems, it is most probable that the
one pa r t ot her t h a n t he he a t the inverter and may not be signifi- effort would not be widely publi-
exchanger is mentioned in the most cant when confidence limits are con- cized. Depending on the companys
significant article available to the sidered. No claim is made that the intellectua l proper ty a nd trade
reviewer, and in this instance, the heat sink was not processed by con- secrets policies, such use might not
authors state that a plastic lead ventional machining, grinding, or be public even after the products
frame was printed using fused polishing after printing, but no were introduced to market.
3-D Printing Versus Additive Manufacturing

Some parties are advocating that 3-D printing be called additive printing is additive manufacturing, it does not follow that additive
manufacturing. Perhaps some feel that printing is too insubstantial manufacturing is 3-D printing or even that additive manufacturing is
a concept to describe the new technology. Certainly, what is going a suitable alternative name for 3-D printing. Most machining, as the
on is an additive process. The problem is that there are many other word is used in manufacturing, is a process of material removal. If one
more common processes already part of manufacturing that are also cannot bring oneself to call 3-D printing just that, perhaps additive
additive. Welding is one common example. Prof. Douglas C. Hopkins machining is a suitable neologism. Alternatively, consider the phrase
at North Carolina State University used a PowerPoint slide with an additive grinding. After all, grinding reduces selected portions of a
image, attributed to Stratasys, showing a human hand adding more part into powder; additive grinding turns selected portions of powder
clay to what is apparently the beginning of a clay pot. So while 3-D into a new part.
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About the Author ney to digital business. [Online]. Available: http://

___ [5] M. Chinthavali, C. Ayers, S. Campbell, R.
Tom Keim (tkeim@alum.mit.edu)
_____________ is a www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2819918
____________________ Wiles, and B. Ozpineci, A 10-kW SiC inverter
late-career engineer and a long-time [2] Gartner. (2015, Aug. 18). Gartners 2015 hype with a novel printed metal power module
Member of the IEEE. His specialty is cycle for emerging technologies identifies the with integrated cooling using additive manu-
high-performance electromechanical computing innovations that organizations should facturing, in Proc. IEEE Workshop Wide
systems and the power systems that monitor. [Online]. Available: http://www.gartner Bandgap Power Devices Applications, 2014,
drive and control them. He has .com/newsroom/id/3114217 pp. 4854.
worked for a worldwide conglomer- [3] Gartner. (2016, Aug. 16). Gartners 2016 [6] T. Wu, A. A. Wereszczak, H. Wang, B. Ozpineci,
ate, for a small (50 employees) innova- hype cycle for emerging technologies identi- and C. W. Ayers, Thermal response of additive
tive research and development com- fies three key trends that organizations must manufactured aluminum, in Proc. Int. Symp.
pany, as well as for a major research track to gain competitive advantage. [Online]. 3-D Power Electronics Integration Manufactur-
university and an engineering consult- Available: http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/ ing, 2016, pp. 115.
ing company. He has 50 publications id/3412017
______ [7] T. Wu, B. Ozpineci, and C. Ayers, Genetic
and 11 patents and is currently active [4] R. Walli. (2104, Oct. 14). New ORNL elec- algorithm design of a 3-D printed heat sink, in
as an author, inventor, and consultant. tric vehicle technology packs more punch in Proc. 2016 IEEE Applied Power Electronics
smaller package. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Conf. Exposition, pp. 35293536.
References [Online]. Available: https://www.ornl.gov/news/
______________
[1] Gartner. (2014, Aug. 11). Gartners 2014 hype new-ornl-electric-vehicle-technology-packs-
_________________________
cycle for emerging technologies maps the jour- more-punch-smaller-package
_______________
_________________________
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Standards in
Power Electronics
Insight on handling current standards
by Peter Wilson
P
ower electronics is a rapidly growing field,
with an accelerating pace of technological
change. This combination presents a challenge
for industry professionals to stay up to date on
the regulatory and standards requirements and
the standards bodies (such as the IEEE) to ensure that
the published standards are met. Standards are vitally
important for confirming that products conform to the
latest levels of functional interoperability, performance,
safety, and reliability. This is essential at all levels from
consumer products such as electric toothbrushes to cars
and aircraft. The plethora of standards and regulatory
bodies can lead to confusion, ignorance, and inadvertent
problems that could be averted if designers and product
engineers have a greater awareness of not only the stan-
dards required but a better idea of how to interpret and
implement them. This article is intended to assist power
electronics engineers in navigating these difficult and
complex issues and to provide insight on how best to
handle the use of standards. I use a number of commonly
asked questions that practicing engineers have posed
during my standards role within the IEEE Power Elec-
tronics Society (PELS). It is my hope that the answers are
constructive and useful. In addition, I discuss significant
activities aimed at establishing a road map for wide-
bandgap (WBG) power semiconductors, which are not
directly standards as such but are closely related to a
number of standards activities.
Which Standards Do I Need to Know About?

This is a common question often asked by engineers strug- the de facto global standard. A very good example of this is
gling to ensure that they adhere to the correct standards. IEEE Standard 802 (and its various constituent standards)
This obviously depends on the industry sector in which one that relates to computer networking, which has become
operates. In many industries, there may be known key ubiquitous. The use of the term de facto is important,
standards, and the most relevant standards body will also because it is often adopted by an industry that drives the
often be highly industry dependent. The IEEE is one of the use of a particular standard, rather than the legislation itself.
worlds most important standards organizations and, in Other standards bodies in addition to the IEEE that have
many cases, it is true to say that an IEEE standard is often major influence on industry adoption include the Interna-
tional Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the American
National Standards Institute, the International Organization
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 for Standardization, the Society of Automotive Engineers,
14 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017 2329-9207/172017IEEE
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the European Committee for Standardization, and a large obtained by researchers and engineers in this technical area
number of regional or national standards bodies worldwide. to enable some standardization of terminology and metrics
These are often closely linked to regulatory bodies in gov- for the comparison of light-emitting diode lighting products
ernment, who seek to enforce certain standards in legisla- to be presented in a sensible manner.
tion on a national level. An example of such a national
approach in the United Kingdom is the use of the Kite- How Are Standards Developed?
mark, a product and service quality certification mark It is interesting to note that the vast majority of standards
defined and authorized by the British Standards Institution. in electronics and electrical engineering were not devel-
The role of this mark is to ensure that products sold in the oped by bureaucrats or legislators but, rather, by engineers
United Kingdom conform to certain safety standards, which themselves. These same engineers usually provide their
time and expertise as volunteers, working
together for the benefit of the engineering com-
munity and the public in general. Of course, it
would be nave to assume that companies do
not have a vested interest in ensuring that they
have an input in standards; however, each stan-
dards body takes great care to ensure that no
one company can dominate the process and
abides by strict rules to ensure that working
groups and voting procedure cannot be skewed
by one company or industry sector. The ap -
proach within the IEEE to create a new stan-
dard is shown in Figure 1.
The first stage in any new standards process is
the development of an idea. This can occur via an
individual or a group. Once this has taken place,
the idea must be worked up into a proposal for
a new standard. This can be relatively brief, but
the rationale and scope of the proposed standard
must be clear. At the same time, the appropri-
ate technical Society or Societies to develop the
standard should be identified, and this sponsor
can shepherd the new draft through the process.
A sponsor is not mandatory but is highly rec-
ommended to provide exposure of the working
group to the relevant technical community. At
this point, the individual leading the draft stan-
dard creates a project authorization request that
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ALOTOFPEOPLE
is then considered by the IEEE Standards Asso-

ciation. If approved, a project number is assigned
that becomes the number of the new standard
once the process is completed.
At this stage, the working group must be
formed and will generally consist of volunteers
in that technical area who are willing and able
is particularly important for safety equipment such as hel- to contribute to creating the standard draft. This can take
mets or protective clothing. a significant amount of time, but the overall time for the
A nuance in the standards world is the use of the generic approval process is four years and thus is not infinite. After
term standard to encompass not only mandatory activi- the draft has been developed into a state that the work-
ties but also guidelines and recommended practices. These ing group is satisfied with, a balloting pool can be formed,
related standards are not necessarily binding or legally whose members will vote on the new standard. The main
enforced but, rather, provide a framework for the implemen- role of the ballot is to ensure that a large enough majority
tation of good practice or furnish information to consumers of the community finds the new standard acceptable and
to assist them in making informed choices. A good example that all relevant concerns have been addressed. It is beyond
of this is the recently published IEEE Standard 1789 [1]. This the scope of this article to fully describe the details of the
recommended practice provides information that has been process, but these can be found on the IEEE Standards
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ogy road map for WBG power devices.

Many road maps have existed over the
Idea years in a variety of technical fields,
perhaps the most famous being the
International Technology Road Map
for Semiconductors (ITRS) [3], which
Project Working Group IEEE-SA has been primarily driven by the deep
Sponsor Standard
Approval Develop a Draft Standards Board submicron silicon-based industry, with
Ballot Published
Process Standard Approval
Moores law at its heart.
The role of the ITRW is to provide
reference, guidance, and services to
Revise
Standard
future research and technology devel-
opment in this area. The goals of the
ITRW are to publish a clear technol-
ogy road map every two years, white
Withdraw papers setting out clear technology
Standard
statements, and position papers;
defining a strategic research agenda;
Archive
coordinating information dissemina-
Standard tion and community building events;
and providing operational support to
the WBG power semiconductor com-
FIG 1 The IEEE standards process. IEEE SA: IEEE standards approval.
munity. The structure of the ITRW
working group is shown in Figure 2.
Association website [2]. Once the ballot has passed, the A steering committee consists of leadership from societies,
draft standard is passed to the IEEE Standards Board for industry, government, and academia. The participation and
final approval and editorial review, and once this process is leadership of industry are at the heart of the ITRW process
completed, the standard can be published. There is a man- and therefore, in addition to key industry individuals on the
datory period of review and update for the standard after steering committee, a wider industry advisory board has
ten years (this was increased from five years), at which the specific role of ensuring that the ITRW is relevant and
point the standard can be renewed as is, revised, or with- technology driven. The steering committee also has strong
drawn. If it is withdrawn, the standard is then archived. technical representation from the specific technical work-
ing groups that are defined in Figure 2, ensuring broad par-
What About Road Map Activities ticipation of individuals across all aspects of WBG power
Relating to WBG Devices? semiconductor technologies. As with the steering commit-
In addition to standards, the IEEE PELS Standards Commit- tee, there is extensive industry participation in the individ-
tee has been instrumental in developing the International ual working groups.
Technology Road Map for WBG power semiconductors The structure of the ITRW has been designed to be
(ITRW). There are clear needs from industry, academia, inclusive and participation is open to ensure that decisions
education, and public authorities for a reliable and compre- made are fair and neutral, and the voting membership of the
hensive view on the strategic research agenda and technol- steering committee broadly follows the conventional IEEE
approach understood for standards
activities in that no one company, geo-
ITRW Steering Committee
graphical grouping, or constituency
can dominate. In the early stages of the
Steering Technical Industry Industry
Executive ITRWs existence, the steering com-
Committee Working Group Advisory Board Advisory
Officers mittee was formed based on interest
Members Representatives Representatives Board
and knowledge of the field; however, it
is envisaged that the future executive
officers will be elected as the organiza-
Substrates Modules and Systems and
tion becomes self-sustaining. In addi-
Devices tion to the broad technical groupings,
and EPI Packaging Applications
underpinning technology interests
Technical Working Groups will be shown and shared across the
technical working groups such as reli-
FIG 2 The ITRW organizational structure. EPI: Epitaxy. ability, data sheets, testing, and design
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techniques, and these will be developed across the working the breakdown voltage. When the curves for silicon (Si),
groups where appropriate. SiC, and GaN are compared, there is a fundamental measure
of the limit for each technology, as shown in Figure 3.
What Is the Governance of the ITRW? Useful though this metric is, it is not the complete pic-
The ITRW steering committee consists of representatives ture. If we compare the thermal performance of Si and SiC,
from relevant societies, associations, and alliances, i.e., for example, it is well known that SiC devices can operate
PELS, the Power Electronic Research Network, and the at much wider temperature ranges than can Si and, as such,
Communications Workers of American, with a member- their range of operation is much wider. In addition, their abil-
ship per term for three years. The chair (PELS) and ity to tolerate higher temperatures makes it less important
cochairs are elected and comprise the decision-making to ensure that the devices are maintained at a lower tem-
body for ITRW, carrying two-thirds of the total votes. The perature (as would be the case for Si devices). This, in con-
steering committee ensures that a balance exists among junction with a much lower on resistance (and consequently
members from academic, industrial, and government lower static power loss), makes temperature an orthogonal
backgrounds. The subcommittees and working groups aspect of the metric framework potentially to be considered.
comprise internationally leading experts from both aca- Another issue of particular relevance to the power electron-
demia and industry and is the working body of ITRW. The ics community is reliability. Some WBG devices are at a very
chair and cochairs of each subgroup are initially early stage of commercialization and thus the technology is
appointed by the steering committee. immature enough to leave questions unanswered regarding
The industrial advisory board comprises individuals reliability when deployed during a long period.
from relevant companies that represent the complete value One of the particular difficulties in establishing this
chain of this industry and its global geographic distribution. framework is the wide range of application for each aspect
Its role is to provide input and advice to the steering com- of these devices, for example, running at a high tempera-
mittee. The chair and cochairs are elected by the board. ture or perhaps extensive periods of high-power operation.
Another unknown is whether we can predict the perfor-
How Does the ITRW Operate? mance in a particular module, package, or system, when
The ITRW aims to be a neutral forum that provides an open those aspects may influence performance equally as much
platform based on the contribution of global leading experts as the device itself. For example, an SiC device may be
as volunteers. Member meetings take place twice per year, intrinsically robust, but the driver may not be, especially if
in combination with a major conference/event to ensure it is integrated using a wire-bonded package. The role of the
maximum participation. Other regular meetings or work- ITRW is to establish some of the key criteria in a framework
shops occur outside of the major meetings. The technology of metrics for WBG power semiconductors, in the context
road map updates once every two years. The white paper of power electronic systems, to enable specific technical
and strategic research agenda is defined and events orga- work and standards activities to be undertaken.
nized according to need. The ITRW uses the web for infor-
mation sharing and advertisement. What Are Examples of Typical Standards
Relevant to Power Electronics?
How Can We Establish a Framework There are a large variety of IEEE standards for power elec-
of Standard Metrics for the WBG? tronics activities. IEEE Standard 1573 [4] has been developed
One of the major challenges for the power electronics com-
munity in the comparison of power electronics devices and
systems is being able to have a framework of standard met- 105
rics to enable this comparison to occur. The well-known Si SiC GaN
104
Moores law is the observation that the number of transis-
103
Ron-Area (m-cm2)
tors fabricated in a dense electronic circuit doubles every

two years [12]. This has been useful as a specific metric for 102
the silicon device community because it basically estab-
101
lishes a rule of thumb for the cutting edge of device technol-
ogy based on dimension alone. But it has in fact led to a 100
number of related trends in the silicon world such as power 101
loss, switching speed, and complexity, and these do not
102
translate directly into the power electronics world and,
more specifically, WBG semiconductors such as silicon car- 103 2
10 103 104
bide (SiC) or gallium nitride (GaN). From a power electron- Breakdown Voltage (V)
ics standpoint, a key parameter is the R ds (on) resistance,
which provides a suitable measure of the basic device per- FIG 3 The Rds(on) resistance versus breakdown voltage for Si,
formance in terms of the relationship between R ds (on) and SiC, and GaN technologies.
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for the overall design of power electronics modules and sub- field and great opportunities exist for the power electronics
systems and includes guidelines for effective and efficient community to come together to define a standard approach
design of power electronics. This standard provides guidance to manage the adoption of these exciting new technologies.
on interface definitions and application, including parametric
values for power electronic subsystems consisting of single About the Author
or multiple elements. The recommended practice applies to Peter Wilson (p.r.wilson@bath.ac.uk)
______________ received his B.Eng.
ac-dc and dc-dc electronic power subsystems. The range of degree from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United King-
power subsystems includes dc, single-phase, and three-phase dom; his M.B.A. degree from the Edinburgh Business School,
inputs, with elements having power levels from a fraction of United Kingdom; and his Ph.D. degree from the University of
a watt to 20 kW. The voltage range is 600 V and less, at a fre- Southampton, United Kingdom. He is a professor of elec-
quency or frequencies of dc 1 kHz (although switching fre- tronics and systems engineering in the Department of Elec-
quencies can of course be much higher than values in this tronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath,
range). For higher-power converters, there is IEEE Standard United Kingdom. He received industrial experience at Fer-
295-1969 [5], which relates to sine wave or polyphase volt- ranti, General Electric Company-Marconi, Scotland, United
ages and to those working in grid-related activities. Kingdom, and Analogy, Inc., United States, before taking up
Of course, there are many specific technical areas in his previous academic post of associate professor at South-
which standards must be followed, and a highly popular ampton in the School of Electronics and Computer Science.
area at the moment is that of solar inverters. For example, He is a fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technolo-
for a solar inverter to be used in Europe, it must conform to gy and the British Computer Society, a Senior Member of the
the following standards: IEEE, and currently serves as executive vice president of
EN 50524 [6]. The current version, published in 2010, standards for the IEEE Power Electronics Society.
covers the data sheet and name plate for photovoltaic
inverters. References
EN 50530 [7]. The current version, published in 2010, [1] IEEE Recommended Practices for Modulating Current in High-Brightness
defines the methods for testing the overall efficiency of LEDs for Mitigating Health Risks to Viewers, IEEE Standard 1789, 2015.
grid-connected photovoltaic inverters. [Online]. Available: https://standards.ieee.org/findstds/standard/1789-2015.html
IEC 61683. The current version, published in 1999 [8], [2] IEEE Standards Association Frequently Asked Questions. [Online].
defines the procedure for measuring efficiency and Available: https://standards.ieee.org/faqs/
power conditioners. What this means in practice is how [3] ITRS Reports: ITRS 2.0 Publication. (2015). [Online]. Available: http://
___
to assess the power level, input voltage, output voltage, www.itrs2.net/itrs-reports.html
________________
power factor, harmonic content, load nonlinearity, and [4] Recommended Practice for Electronic Power Subsystems: Param-
temperature. eters, Interfaces, Elements, and Performance, IEEE Standard P1573, 2003.
EN 62109 [9]. This deals with the safety of the power con- [Online]. Available: https://standards.ieee.org/develop/project/1573.html
version equipment for use in photovoltaic systems and [5] IEEE Standard for Electronics Power Transformers, IEEE Standard 295,
defines the minimum requirements for protection against 1969. [Online]. Available: https://standards.ieee.org/findstds/standard/295-1969
fire, mechanical, electric shock, and other requirements. .html
__
In addition to the need for specific power electron- [6] Data Sheet and Name Plate for Photovoltaic Inverters, EN 50524,
ics-related standards, there may also be module level or 2009. [Online]. Available: http://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail/?p
consumer product standards, particularly for safety. For id=000000000030183362
____________
example, if a dcdc converter needs to be integrated into a [7] Overall Efficiency of Grid Connected Photovoltaic Inverters, BS EN
communications system, it must satisfy the safety require- 50530, 2010 and A1, 2013. [Online]. Available: http://shop.bsigroup.com/Produ
ments in telecommunications [10] or information technol- ctDetail/?pid=000000000030270551
__________________
ogy equipment [11]. These standards are simply a fraction [8] Photovoltaic SystemsPower Conditioners: Procedure for Measuring
of the standards applicable to power electronics systems Efficiency, EN 61683, 2000. [Online]. Available: https://webstore.iec.ch/pre-
______________
today, but they give the reader an idea of the scope of indi- view/info_iec61683%7Bed1.0%7Den.pdf
____________________
vidual standards and highlight some of the key issues for [9] Safety of Power Converters for Use in Photovoltaic Power Systems. Part
power electronics designers. 1: General Requirements, EN 62109, 2011. [Online]. Available: https://web-
______
store.iec.ch/publication/6470
______________
Conclusions [10] Environmental Engineering (EE); Power Supply Interface at the
The role of standards in power electronics systems has Input to Telecommunications and Datacom (ICT) Equipment; Part 2:
become revitalized with the development of major steps for- Operated by 48 V Direct Current (dc), ETS 300 132-2, 2011. [Online]. Avail-
ward due to WBG power semiconductor devices, particu- able: http://www.etsi.org.
larly in SiC and GaN. The step change in performance, and [11] Information Technology EquipmentSafety, IEC Standard 60950-1,
especially thermal tolerance, has led directly to the need for 2009. [Online]. Available: http://ulstandards.ul.com/standard/?id=60950-1_1
new standards and definitions, both for researchers and [12] G. E. Moore, Cramming more components onto integrated circuits,
industry. It is an exciting time to be in the power electronics Electronics, vol. 38, pp. 114117, Apr. 1965.
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A
B
Efficiency
C
Regulations
Driving power conversion D
efficiency designs
by Rich Fassler E
F
I
n recent decades, government agencies
developed programs to improve the effi-
ciency of our electronic products and
appliances. A 1999 study estimated that
G
up to 10% of electricity consumed by
residential products was wasted when
products had been turned off by consumers
[1]. Early efficiency programs focused on mini-
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ALTAYB
mizing the amount of power consumed by these
so-called energy vampires while in off mode.
Newer efficiency metrics look at reducing energy waste
in all operating modes.
Regardless of the program approach, they all share the
premise that to maximize the overall product efficiency
of any electronic product, the products power supply
that converts the high-voltage ac mains to the low-voltage requirements, offering manufacturers a choice of whether
operating dc must be highly efficient. This has motivated to meet the required levels. Voluntary programs include the
power supply designers to find new and innovative ways U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR and
to increase power conversion efficiency. This article dis- European Commission (EC) Code of Conduct (CoC). There
cusses different types of efficiency regulations, from are also mandatory programs, referred to as standards or
early modal approaches to todays more complicated daily implementing measures. Examples include the California
energy consumption calculations, and their impact on ac Energy Commission (CEC) Title 20 Appliance Efficiency
dc power conversion design. Regulations, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy
Independence and Security Act (EISA), and the EC Ecode-
Efficiency Program Requirements sign Directive for Energy-Related Products. Although both
Are NotAllCreated Equal types affect market transformation, a mandatory program
Before diving into the efficiency programs (regardless of does so by a specific date, demanding conformance and
their geographic location), it is helpful to understand dif- usually spurring new product design.
ferences among program types. Some are voluntary Regardless of voluntary or mandatory status, effi-
ciency metrics can be 1) modal based (i.e., regulating
off-mode, standby-mode, idle-mode, or active-mode
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 power consumption) and measured in watts or 2) energy
2329-9207/172017IEEE March 2017 ]IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 19
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consumption based, calculating a products allowable It was not uncommon for these adapters to waste nearly 1
annual total energy consumption (TEC), in kilowatt W or more while in no-load mode.
hours per year, based on a products typical daily usage. The first major EPS efficiency specification to emerge
Early regulations simply focused on modal power con- was the ECs CoC [2], minimizing no-load power losses
sumption limits, but newer TEC regulations are more in EPSs rated at 75 W and below output. The CoCs initial
complex, placing more importance on the design of the no-load limit (effective January 2001) was 1 W, dropping
power supply to be efficient during a wide range of oper- down to 0.75 W in 2003. These limits caused some power
ating load points. Some regulations use a combination of supply design change, but linear transformer designs
both modal and TEC limits. could still be modified to meet those
It is valuable to understand that no-load requirements.
the overall efficiency of a mains- In January 2005, a more compre-
powered product is determined by Without these regula- hensive ENERGY STAR EPS efficiency
three equally important parts: 1) the tions demanding higher program specification became effec-
acdc power conversion stage, 2) the tive, adding a minimum average active-
efficiency of the rest of the electronic efficiency, we might mode efficiency requirement (based
circuitry during the products main still be using large, on the measured average efficiency
function operation, and 3) power man- at 25, 50, 75, and 100% load points) [3].
agement controls, allowing a product
bulky adapters. Desiring harmonization, the CoC ver-
to automatically go into lower-power sion 2 adopted the ENERGY STAR
operating modes (i.e., idle, sleep, or approach and test method. Although
off) when not in use. In some cases, when automatic power the CoC and Energy Star were voluntary programs, the test
down can move a product into such a low-power mode, the method and metrics were adopted for mandatory standards
reduced efficiency of the power supply at that low level can by the CEC, U.S. DOE, and EC Ecodesign Directive. (The
cause unintended overtemperature and/or noise problems. ENERGY STAR EPS efficiency program was suspended in
Regulations targeting item 1) directly impact power supply December of 2010.) These tighter, mandatory requirements
efficiency, whereas those targeting items 2) and 3) indi- provided the catalyst for power supply design change, espe-
rectly affect power supply efficiency. cially in the 212 W area for personal electronic adapters,
and transformed the market away from linear designs to
Regulations Directly Impacting switch-mode designs. In addition to efficiency gains, the
Power SupplyEfficiency new designs delivered lighter and smaller external power
Direct impact regulations specifically target external power supplies and adapters, as shown in Figure 1. The large
supply (EPS) and internal power supply (IPS) conversion 1990s preregulation mobile phone adapter [Figure 1(a)] has
efficiency. As a result of the rise of personal mobile elec- a no-load power consumption of almost 1 W compared to
tronics (cell phones, MP3 players, laptops) in the 1990s, the 2016 smartphone adapter [Figure 1(c)], with a no-load
power adapters started invading our homes and offices in consumption of less than 0.03W. Without these regulations
large numbers. Most were based on decades-old bulky lin- demanding higher efficiency, we might still be using large,
ear transformer technology design, barely squeaking by bulky adapters.
with 50% conversion efficiency at full load and consuming In the beginning, changing from a linear-based power
measurable power when the adapter was plugged into the supply design to a switching power supply design was a
wall but not attached to its end application (no-load mode). quick way to become compliant. But in 2016, the U.S DOE
EPS Level VI EISA standard and EC CoC version 5 program
brought tighter no-load power consumption and higher
Before EPS
Efficiency Programs
active-mode efficiency requirements. The new regulations
Pout = 2.26 W EPS Efficiency required power supply designers to consider additional
EPS Efficiency Level VI circuit changes. Examples include the following:
Level V Pout = 18.0 W
Pout = 5.0 W Modified switching algorithms. As agencies became
aware that some applications (computers) spend a major
part of the day in nonactive modes (i.e., idle or standby
modes), they realized that power supplies also needed to
be highly efficient at those low-load levels. Results from
(a) (b) (c) a study conducted by the International Telecommunica-
tion Union [4] that were presented at a 2012 CoC EPS
meeting revealed a noticeable efficiency drop at load lev-
els that were 10% and below in power supplies that oth-
FIG 1 (a)(c) The EPS efficiency program affect on personal erwise exhibited high efficiency at higher loads. This
electronic adapters. resulted in the addition of a separate minimum
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efficiency requirement at 10% load in the current CoC al Schottky diodes. Additionally, optocouplers and associ-
version 5 specification. Other EPS programs are consid- ated feedback control components used on the second-
ering including this in their future requirements. To ary side are being removed, as designers use primary side
maintain constant efficiency over the entire load range, regulation schemes or new secondary side regulation
new designs vary switching waveforms depending on the approaches, replacing optocouplers by using the isolated
load, changing frequency, pulse inductance of IC lead frames [6].
width, and burst energy. In recent These efficiency improvements
years, power conversion integrated Synchronous rectifica- come at essentially the same mate-
circuit (IC) manufacturers have rial cost as the previous less-efficient
tion, once reserved
introduced multiple new products models, thanks to innovations from
to address this challenge [5]. for more expensive, component and power supply manu-
Updated efficiency requirements. facturers. Tables 13 and Figures 24
high-performance
The more stringent active efficiency illustrate the three major EPS effi-
requirements have also impacted the power supplies, is now ciency programs/standards in force
output side of supplies. Synchronous replacing traditional today. It is important to note that the
rectification, once reserved for more requirements shown (and related test
expensive, high-performance power Schottky diodes. procedures) have also been adopted
supplies, is now replacing tradition- by other countries as well. Levels in
Table 1. The acdc single-output EPS active mode efficiency requirements.

EC Ecodesign
EC CoC v5 (Tier 2) U.S. DOE (Level VI) (LevelV) CoC, 10% Efficiency
a
Standard (Basic) Voltage
Name Plate Output Four-Point Average Four-Point Average Four-Point Average 10% Point
Power (P no ) Efficiency (minimum) Efficiency (minimum) Efficiencyb (minimum) Efficiency (minimum)
0 < Pno # 1W $ 0.500 # Pno + 0.169 $ 0.500 # Pno + 0.16 0.480 # (Pno) + 0.140 $ 0.500 # (Pno) + 0.060
1 1 P no # 49 W $ 0.071 # In (P no) $ 0.071 # In (P no) $ 0.063 # In (P no) + 0.622 $ 0.071 # In (P no)

- 0.00115 # P no + 0.670 - 0.0014 # P no + 0.67 - 0.00115 # P no + 0.570
49 1 P no # 250 W $ 0.890 $ 0.88 0.87 $ 0.790

2 250 W N/A $ 0.875 N/A N/A
a
Low Voltage
Name Plate Output Four-Point Average Four-Point Average Four-Point Average 10% Point
Power (P no ) Efficiency (minimum) Efficiency (minimum) Efficiencyb (minimum) Efficiency (minimum)
0 < Pno # 1W $ 0.517 # P no + 0.091 $ 0.517 # P no + 0.087 0.497 # P no + 0.067 $ 0.517 # P no
1 1 P no # 49 W $ 0.0834 # In (Pno) $ 0.0834 # In (P no) 0.075 # In (P no) + 0.561 $ 0.0834 # In (P no)

- 0.0011 # P no + 0.609 - 0.0014 # P no + 0.609 - 0.00127 # P no + 0.518
49 1 P no # 250 W $ 0.880 $ 0.870 0.860 $ 0.780
2 250 W N/A $ 0.875 N/A N/A
N/A: not available.

a
Standard voltage power supply excludes low-voltage power supplies defined as having a name plate output of < 6 V and 550 mA.
b
Ecodesign power levels are 51 W and > 51 W (not 49 W).
Table 2. The acdc single-output EPS no-load power consumption requirements.

EC CoC, Version 5 (Tier 2) U.S. DOE (Level VI) EC Ecodesign (Level V)
Name Plate Output Power (P no ) No-Load Power Maximum (W) No-Load Power Maximum (W) No-Load Power Maximum (W)
0 1 P no # 49 W 0.075 0.100 0.300
49 1 P no # 250 W 0.150 0.210 0.500
2 250 W N/A 0.500 N/A
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the tables and figures refer to the International Efficiency the 80 PLUS program was established for that product.
Marking Protocol for EPS. Compliant EPSs use the corre- Universally adopted, the voluntary 80 PLUS computer
sponding Roman numeral marking on their package. power supply labeling program specifies minimum effi-
IPS efficiency programs are not very common due to ciencies at 20, 50, and 100% loading [7]. It created perfor-
the difficulty in identifying where the power supplys out- mance group designations as shown in Table 3. ENERGY
put can be tested if incorporated on the end applications STAR was the first to incorporate the 80 PLUS standard
circuit board. But because a computers IPS is typi- level into its 2007 version 4 computer program specifica-
cally a discrete silver box with easily identifiable outputs, tion, a level maintained through its current version 6 [8].
Table 3. The 80 PLUS minimum IPS efficiency requirements.

115-V Internal Power Supplies
10% Load 20% Load 50% Load 100% Load
80 PLUS Designation Efficiency Efficiency Efficiency Efficiency Power Factor Correction
Standard 80% 80% 80% 0.9 at 100% load
Bronze 82% 85% 82% 0.9 at 50% load
Silver 85% 88% 85% 0.9 at 50% load
Gold 87% 90% 87% 0.9 at 50% load
Platinum 90% 92% 89% 0.95 at 50% load
Titanium 90% 92% 94% 90% 0.95 at 20% load
230-V EU Internal Power Supplies

10% Load 20% Load 50% Load 100% Load
80 PLUS Designation Efficiency Efficiency Efficiency Efficiency Power Factor Correction
Standard 82% 85% 82% 0.9 at 50% load
Bronze 85% 88% 85% 0.9 at 50% load
Silver 87% 90% 87% 0.9 at 50% load
Gold 90% 92% 89% 0.9 at 50% load
Platinum 92% 94% 90% 0.95 at 50% load
Titanium 90% 94% 96% 94% 0.95 at 20% load
EU: European Union.

Source: www.plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSupplies.aspx.
Minimum Average Efficiency Minimum Average Efficiency

Four-Point Average Efficiency (%)
Four-Point Average Efficiency (%)
(Standard Voltage) > 1 W ((Low Voltage)

g )>1W
95 90 88%
89% 87%
90 88% 85 86%
85 87% 85%
85% 80
80
75
75
70
70
65 65
60 60
55 55
50 50
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
Nominal Power (Watts) EPS Output Power (W)
CoC v5 (Tier 2) U.S. DOE 2016 (Lev. VI) CoC v5 (Tier 2) U.S. DOE 2016 (Lev. VI)
Ecodesign Dir. (Lev. V) Previous U.S. DOE (Lev. IV) Ecodesign Dir. (Lev. V) Previous U.S. DOE (Lev. IV)
FIG 2 The acdc single-output EPS standard voltage four-point FIG 3 The acdc single-output EPS low-voltage four-point
efficiency requirements. efficiency requirements.
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The EC Ecodesign Directive for computers also speci- ^W h, P LONG- IDLE is measured power consumption in long
fies an 80 PLUS standard minimum in its requirements idlemode ^W h, P SHORT- IDLE is measured power consumption
(617/2013) [9]. But new programs are specifying higher in short idle mode ^W h, and T OFF, T SLEEP, T LONG- IDLE, and
levels; the latest version 3 draft of TSHORT- IDLE are mode weightings as
the ENERGY STAR computer server specified in [8, Table 3].
program specification proposes 80 To be compliant, a computers cal-
PLUS Platinum efficiency, and the culated TEC must be lower than the
CEC is requiring 80 PLUS Gold IPS
What is certain is that energy allowed in the California stan-
efficiency for workstations in 2018. the efficiency regula- dard [11]. Early attempts to meet the
proposed standard were hampered
tions landscape will
Regulations Indirectly Impacting by IPSs with poor efficiency at very-
PowerSupplyEfficiency continue to change as low-power mode levels. A demonstra-
Whereas the programs and standards components and design tion of a compliant computer using an
mentioned previously specifically tar- IPS designed specifically to provide
get power supply efficiency, other pro- improvements deliver high efficiency at the required power
grams indirectly affect power supply higher levels of power levels was demonstrated at an April
efficiency by addressing consumption 2016 CEC stakeholder workshop [12].
in an applications standby or off conversion efficiency. The custom-designed 300-W IPS con-
modes. A prime example is the EC sisted of a highly efficient high-power
Ecodesign Directive requirements for switching power supply coupled with
standby- and off-mode electric power a highly efficient low-power switch-
consumption of electrical and electronic household and ing power supply. The computer used cost-effective, off-
office equipment (1275/2008, with amendment 801/2013) [10]. the-shelf components. The IPS automatically switched
A horizontal standard, this program limits off- and standby- outputs from one supply to the other, depending on load
mode power consumption for a wide range of unrelated requirements. The demonstration reinforced the fact that
office and home products. Meeting the current maximum in addition to improved computer design, conformance
standby power consumption limit of 0.5 W would be impos- was unlikely without improved power supply design.
sible with a power supply that was inefficient at very low
loads [i.e., the linear-based EPS in Figure 1(a)]. Whats Next?
In recent years, the energy-consumption-limiting TEC What is certain is that the efficiency regulations landscape
approach, mentioned previously, has found its way into will continue to change as components and design
efficiency regulations. Although TEC specifications do improvements deliver higher levels of power conversion
not specifically address power supplies, they demand efficiency. Keeping up with revisions to current programs
high-power-supply efficiency for a wide operating range, as well as new product program requirements can be
limiting an applications energy consumption in very-low-
power operating modes (i.e., off, standby, and idle). The
focus on these lower-power modes places performance
pressure on the power supply to maintain high efficiency Maximum No-Load Power Consumption
0.6
from a 100% load down into the single-digit load area. Effi-
ciency programs and standards that currently use TEC
0.5
metrics include ENERGY STAR (set-top box, computer,
and displays), Ecodesign Directive (computer), and soon, 0.4
No Load (W)
CEC Appliance Efficiency Regulations (computer). The

CEC recently approved mandatory computer regulation 0.3
harmonizes with the voluntary ENERGY STAR computer
program version 6.1 metrics but with tighter limits. Both 0.2 0.21
requirements focus on energy consumed during nonactive 0.15
computing modes. 0.1
A computers annual energy consumption (E TEC) is
0
calculated using the following: 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
Nominal Power (Watts)
E TEC = (8760 ' 1000) # (P OFF # T OFF + P SLEEP # T SLEEP
CoC v5 (Tier 2) U.S. DOE 2016 (Lev. VI)
+ P LONG IDLE # T LONG IDLE + P SHORT IDLE # T SHORT IDLE), Ecodesign Dir. (Lev. V) Previous U.S. DOE (Lev. IV)
where P OFF is measured power consumption in off mode FIG 4 The acdc single-output no-load power consumption
^W h, P SLEEP is measured power consumption in sleep mode requirements curves.
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daunting. To aid manufacturers and interested stakehold- morethan 35 years of experience in the technical marketing
ers, websites have become available that summarize effi- and sales of power semiconductors used in power conver-
ciency program and standard activities. These include sion, through positions at Power Integrations (San Jose, Cal-
Power Integrations Green Room (https://ac-dc.power.com/ ifornia), IXYS Corporation (Santa Clara, California), and the
green-room/),
________ the Power Sources Manufacturers Associa- General Electric Company (San Jose, California; Auburn,
tion Energy Efficiency Database (http://www.psma.com/ New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Columbia, South Carolina).
technical-forums/energy-efficiency/efficiency-database),
_____________________________________ His current work focuses on worldwide energy efficiency reg-
and the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards ulations for consumer and office products. He writes about
Program database (http://clasp.ngo/Tools/Tools/SL_Search).
_________________________ energy efficiency program topics in the Power Integrations
Some efficiency regulations, such as the Ecodesign Green Room (https://ac-dc.power.com/green-room/blog/).
__________________________
Directive, require product standards to be reviewed every
few years to evaluate tighter requirements based on cur- References
rently available products. As costs decrease for semicon- [1] B. Lebot, A. Meier, and A. Anglade, Global implications of standby power
ductors made from newer materials such as gallium nitride use, in Proc. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy Summer
and silicon carbide, they will begin to appear in high-volume Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Asilomar, CA, 2000, p. 7.82.
commercial power supply design, pushing efficiency perfor- [2] European Commission. (2001) Efficiency of external power supplies.
mance to even higher levels. And, as agencies better under- [Online]. Available: http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/energyefficiency/ict-codes-
____________________________
stand the way in which products are actually used, TEC conduct/efficiency-external-power-supplies
______________________
limits will continue to put pressure on power supplies to [3] ENERGY STAR program requirements for single voltage external acdc
achieve higher efficiency at ultralow loads. New and emerg- and acac power supplies, version 1.1. ENERGY STAR. Washington, D.C.
ing electronic products will continue to drive power supply [Online]. Available: https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/specs//
____________________________
efficiency. Examples include the following: private/EPS_Eligibility_Criteria_V1.1_0.pdf
______________________
Electric vehicle (EV) service equipment. An ENERGY [4] R. Bolla, R. Bruschi, and L. DAgostino. (2012, Sept.). GeSi and ITU: An
STAR efficiency program for EV chargers was recently energy-aware survey on ICT device power supplies. International Telecom-
finalized. The focus is on minimizing the EV chargers munication Union. Geneva, Switzerland. [Online]. p. 2, sec. 5.1. Available:
power consumption while in idle and off modes, not www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/oth/4B/01/T4B010000070001PDFE.pdf
when charging the battery. [5] R. Fassler, Meeting the challenge of power supply efficiency in regula-
IoT appliances. The connected appliance revolution tions with low power modes, presented at the Proc. Energy Efficiency in
has begun, in the process of adding billions of smart Domestic Appliances and Lighting (EEDAL) Conf., Coimbra, Portugal, 2013.
products to the grid during the next few decades. Effi- [Online]. Available: https://ac-dc.power.com/sites/default/files/PDFFiles/
ciency agencies are currently wrestling with how to techpapers/R_Fassler_EEDAL2013_paper_066_final.pdf
____________________________
ensure that these new appliances enter low-power [6] InnoSwitch Family. Power Integrations. [Online]. Available: https://ac-dc
______
modes when they are off but still connected to the net- .power.com/products/innoswitch-family/
work. California recently approved a light-emitting diode [7] 80 PLUS. (2016, Dec. 18). 80 PLUS certified power supplies and manu-
lamp standard that limits standby power consumption to facturers. Plug Load Solutions. [Online]. Available: _____________
https://plugloadsolutions
no more than 0.2 W, the lowest networked standby .com/80PlusPowerSupplies.aspx
power requirement to date. [8] U.S EPA ENERGY STAR program requirements product specification for
And, the drive to mandate zero net energy (ZNE) homes computers, version 6.1. ENERGY STAR. Washington, D.C. [Online]. Available:
and commercial buildings will put new focus on installed https://www.energystar.gov/products/office_equipment/computers/partners
_____________________________________
product efficiency, including their power supplies. Califor- [9] Regulation No. 617/2013 Implementing Directive with Regard to Ecodesign
nia has already set targets for new residential buildings to Requirements for Computers and Computer Servers, European Commission.
be ZNE by 2020 and new commercial buildings by 2030 [13]. [10] Regulation No. 1275/2008 Implementing Directive 2005/32/EC of the
Although it is impossible to foresee all of the future must- European Parliament and of the Council with Regard to Ecodesign Require-
have electronic devices and appliances that will appear, ments for Standby and Off Mode Electric Power Consumption of Electrical
one idea is certain: as new product adoption numbers and Electronic Household and Office Equipment, Regulation No. 1275/2008.
rise, efficiency programs will be developed to limit their [11] Appliance Efficiency Rulemaking, Express Terms Computers, Com-
energy consumption. And, as new technology improves puter Monitors, and Signage Displays, 16-AAER-02, 2016.
the efficiency in todays available products, revisions will [12] Aggios. (2016, Apr. 25). Aggios comments: California Energy Com-
tighten their existing program requirements. Both occur- mission draft 2 workshop on computersTechnical demo. Aggios.
rences will drive power supplies to greater levels of conver- Irvine, CA. [Online]. Available: http://docketpublic.energy.ca.gov/
sion efficiency. PublicDocuments/14-AAER-02/TN211230_20160425T101319_Aggios_
______________________________________
Comments_AGGIOS_Title_20_Workshop_2016_04_26.pdf
_____________________________
About the Author [13] M. Waltner. (2015, June 10). New California building efficiency stan-
Rich Fassler (Richard.Fassler@power.com)
___________________ received his dards set the stage for zero net energy homes by 2020. NRDC. [Online].
B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1973 from California Available: www.nrdc.org/experts/meg-waltner/new-california-building-
_________________________________
Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He has efficiency-standards-set-stage-zero-net-energy-homes
__________________________
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Generating
ultrafast
How GaN Power pulsed power
with GaN FETs
Transistors Drive
High-Performance Lidar
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/D1SK
by John Glaser
L
ight detection and ranging (lidar) is a versatile Lidar is used to measure the distance to Earths moon,
light-based remote sensing technology that measure air velocity for wind farm power production
recently has been the subject of great attention. forecasting, discover and map archaeological sites, and
It has shown up in a number of media venues determine atmospheric conditions for real-time turbu-
and has even led to public debate about the lence compensation in astronomical telescopes [3][5].
engineering choices of a well-known electric car com- Most recently, the application that has garnered the great-
pany, Tesla Motors [1]. While this article is not going to est attention is real-time three-dimensional (3-D) mapping.
enter the fray, it will provide some background on Tremendous advances in autonomous mobile machines,
lidar and discuss its strong connection to power elec- including robots, drones, and automobiles, have led to a
tronics technologies. need for real-time, accurate 3-D mapping for navigation and
In its best-known form, a lidar bounces a laser beam off collision avoidance. The advent of low-cost semiconductor
an object or a target and uses the reflection to determine laser diodes, ubiquitous portable computing power, and last,
some of its properties [2]. The target could be something but not least, ultrafast power semiconductors has led to an
as solid as a car, a house, or a bridge or as diffuse as a layer explosion in the availability of affordable, high-speed 3-D
of Earths atmosphere. One can measure obvious proper- lidar mapping systems.
ties, like distance, or far more subtle properties, such as the A state-of-the-art commercial lidar system is the
chemical content and particle size of pollution over a city. Velodyne PUCK, shown in Figure 2 [7]. According to the
Figure 1 shows some typical lidar applications. manufacturer, this lidar system has a 100-m range and a
360 horizontal by 30 vertical field of view and can mea-
sure 300,000 points every second to a typical accuracy of
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 3 cm. The PUCK weighs less that a kilogram, consumes
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about 8 W, and can fit in the palm of

ones hand. Figure 3 shows a point-
cloud map of the team from Efficient
Power Conversion (EPC) standing at
the 2016 IEEE Applied Power Elec-
tronics Conference and Exposition
(APEC 2016) EPC booth, taken from
a Phoenix aerial drone equipped with
the PUCK. Velodyne is one of a num-
ber of companies developing small,
fast, affordable lidar systems. Oth-
ers include Quanergy, LeddarTech,
Excelitas, and SICK with new ones to
join soon.
(a) (b) While a number of applications have
been mentioned, two stand out due to
Ancient
Dam the potential to fundamentally change
how people view and move through
the world. The first is autonomous
Mound vehicles, especially self-driving cars
Field (Figure 4) [8]. This is a matter of much
hype and debate, but the potential
100 m
benefits are great. Not only are there
(c) (d)
huge potential safety and efficiency
benefits, the possible time and money
savings for ordinary citizens are just as
significant. As just one example, con-
Modern Mound sider that self-driving cars could solve
Cultivation Field
the last-mile problem of public trans-
Ancient portation. From a North American
100 m Dam
point of view, this could eliminate the
(e) (f) de facto requirement of car ownership
for many citizens, eliminating a large
FIG 1 Some examples of lidar applications. (a) Measuring atmospheric properties to economic burden on many individuals
allow real-time compensation of an astronomical telescope [3] (photo courtesy of
and families.
Wikipedia); (b) lidar retroreflector left by Apollo 11 for measuring Earthmoon distance
to within 3 cm out of 380,000 km [4] (photo courtesy of Lunar and Planar Institute); The driving process requires a
(c)(f) using lidar to accurately measure elevation and discover archaeological artifacts real-time, high-resolution 3-D map
[5] (photos courtesy of theconversation.com).
_____________ of the surroundings to drive safely,
FIG 2 The Velodyne PUCK self-contained 3-D lidar capable of

mapping 300,000 points to 3-cm accuracy each second [7]. FIG 3 The Velodyne PUCK point-cloud image of the EPC team
(Image courtesy of Velodyne LiDAR.) at APEC 2016.
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(a) (b)
FIG 4 (a) A self-driving car with lidar (photo courtesy of Wikimedia) and (b) its view of the world (image courtesy of Mapping
Ignorance).
efficiently, and expediently. This map requires raw data distance data may be adequate. Applications requiring
that, in the case of a human driver, are acquired primarily accurate long-range data, safety-critical applications,
through the eyes. For an autonomous driving computer, or applications with less than optimal lighting use lidar
lidar is the ideal method to acquire these data, whether to provide direct measurement of unambiguous, high-
day or night. Just as with human drivers, it operates in resolution data.
conjunction with other sensors, such as radar, visual, and
ultrasonic systems, but lidar provides the most robust What About Power Electronics?
and data efficient means of collecting high-resolution, One might ask, what does lidar have to do with power
high-accuracy distance data. electronics, and why is it appearing in this magazine? The
The second key application is augmented reality. fact is that electronics and photonics have had a close
Whereas virtual reality attempts to replace the surround- relationship since the beginnings of electrical science [9].
ing world and convince the user that he or she is in an For power electronics and lidar, the primary relationship
environment different from his or her actual physical revolves around the light source and its driver. This sys-
environment, augmented reality enhances human senses tem is essentially a pulse-power system, and its proper
based on a combination of data provided by additional design requires fast power devices, high-current gate
sensors and possibly additional data created by people or drives, understanding and control of power loop parasit-
computer models, translated into a format that our senses ics, high-speed current sensing, and many other topics
can perceive. critical to power electronics. This will be discussed later
In modern form, the predominant vehicles for aug- in this article, but first we need to understand some basic
mented reality are smartphone displays (think of the game lidar concepts.
application Pokmon GO) or goggles that project additional
data into ones field of vision. Figure 5 shows an example of How Does Lidar Work?
the latter, the Microsoft Hololens, with Google Glass being Much like its verbal forerunner, radar, the word lidar
another prominent example. Todays computing power originated as an acronym derived from light detection
allows one to project data in the form of images that can
be blended in with ones natural field of view. This technol-
ogy has many far-reaching applications. While gaming is one
obvious use, there are many others. Imagine earthquake res-
cue workers who can have precarious rubble highlighted for
their safety, or the architect who can show clients his or her
vision of a major remodeling project, or the doctor who can
assist in a surgery on another side of the globe.
Since the majority of humans perceive a 3-D space, the
projection of additional imagery into this space requires
an accurate real-time 3-D map, the key strength of lidar.
While much can be done with processing of standard cam-
era images, distances must be inferred based on one or FIG 5 The Microsoft Hololens augmented reality goggles.
more images. For noncritical applications, this estimated (Photo courtesy of Microsoft.)
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and ranging. Not only are the terms lidar and radar simi- allows fast and accurate estimations of these properties
larly derived, but, as shown in Figure 6, the operating even for long-distance targets and under adverse environ-
principle is identical. A transmitter sends out an electro- mental conditions.
magnetic waveform that is reflected from a target of For lidar, as well as radar, the importance of the
interest. A portion of the reflection is detected, compared transmitted waveform properties cannot be overstated.
to a reference derived from the transmitted signal, and The time- and frequency-domain characteristics of the
analyzed to determine information about the target. This transmitted waveform determine what kind of informa-
information includes things like material properties such tion about a target can be detected, its accuracy and
as composition or surface texture, or properties about a precision, how fast it can be determined, and maximum
targets state of motion, such as distance, direction, and distance to the target.
motion. The active nature of this remote sensing method The two extreme cases for transmitted waveforms are
a continuous sine wave and a single impulse [10]. As with
radar, a continuous wave can be used to precisely deter-
mine the velocity projection along the vector from trans-
Scan Optics
Transmitted Beam mitter to target via the Doppler effect but cannot determine
position. On the other hand, a single impulse can exactly
Reflected Beam
Target determine distance along the same vector but yields no
velocity information.
Laser The majority of systems must balance these goals and
Receiver
Transmitter accomplish this by the transmission of sequences of short
3-D Point Cloud
pulses. In the simplest case, the pulses are transmitted at a
constant rate, called the pulse repetition frequency (PRF).
Figure 7 shows some effects of pulsewidth and PRF in a
Signal Processing
basic time-of-flight lidar system. Such a system points the
laser and detector along a vector, takes a distance measure-
http://ucanr.edu/
blogs/green// ment, points to a new vector, and repeats.
blogfiles/11605_original.png
Consider first a single pulse with negligible width t p .
The pulse travels to the target, and some portion of the
FIG 6 A simplified lidar system.
pulse is reflected back to the detector. The time t d between
the transmission and detection of the pulse is measured,
and the distance to the target is then easily calculated as
tp
Transmission d = 2 $ c $ t d, (1)
Lidar
Reflection where c is the speed of light (+ 30 cm/ns at 1 atm or less).
(a)
In practice, the pulsewidth is not negligible. The finite
speed of light dictates that the pulse occupies a distance l p
tp in space, where
Lidar lp = c $ tp. (2)
(b) The smallest distances that can easily be resolved

are of the order of l p ; hence, the shorter the pulsewidth
Tp
t p, the greater the possible precision, or distance resolu-
tion, of the lidar, as shown in Figure 7(a) and (b). If we
Lidar consider a commercial lidar for autonomous vehicles, the
required distance resolution is on the order of a few centi-
(c) meters. Ideally, this requires a pulsewidth t p on the order
of 100 ps, but practical pulses are on the order of several
FIG 7 The effect of lidar pulsewidth on distance measurement nanoseconds. Thus, multiple pulses are correlated to
resolution. (a) The narrow pulse allows reflections to be separated get a better estimate of distance, and this increases the
and distance between targets to be resolved. (b) The wide pulse required measurement and computation time. Further-
causes reflections to overlap and targets cannot be distinguished. more, repetitive identical pulses can reduce the maxi-
(c) The distance to the target cannot be calculated because
particular reflected pulses cannot be distinguished from each
mum range. If the period of the PRF is TP = 1/PRF and
other and thus cannot be associated with the corresponding the target is farther than 2 : c : TP, the receiver cannot
transmitted pulses. distinguish between reflected pulses. Thus, they cannot
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be associated with the corresponding transmitted pulse, concentrates reflected energy and allows a higher signal-
and the correct distance cannot be calculated, as shown to-noise ratio. It should be noted that a coherent source of
in Figure 7(c). Hence, the repetitive pulses required to electromagnetic energy is required to achieve this small
increase resolution can reduce the effective range capa- divergence. For radar, this is inherent to good antenna
bility of the lidar system. design. For optical sources, this requirement is achieved
These limitations can be mitigated through various by the use of a laser.
means, such as complex, adaptive pulse sequences or by
changing the measurement vector to sample other points Receivers
in space before returning to the first point of interest. In radar, one benefit of an antenna and the lower frequen-
A complete discussion of this topic is beyond the scope cies used means that coherent detection of the reflected sig-
of this article, but it suffices to say that, ultimately, nal is possible; that is, the carrier of the reflected pulse can
system performance is limited by also be used to determine information
the minimum pulsewidth. A shorter about the target. While this is possible
pulsewidth means greater possible with optical wavelengths, it is far
resolution, faster measurement, and
System performance more difficult and expensive and will
less computation. is limited by the remain so until integrated photonics
technology becomes as capable and
minimum pulsewidth.
Lidar Versus Radar: Transmitters inexpensive as integrated electronics.
and Receivers A shorter pulsewidth As a result, the most commonly used
Although the operating principle of means greater possible optical detection technologies detect
lidar and radar is the same, implemen- only the envelope of the reflected
tation can be very different. The key resolution, faster pulse and lose the information in the
difference is a matter of wavelength, measurement, and carrier. This seems like a huge disad-
with radar wavelengths on the order vantage, until one remembers that the
of meters to millimeters and lidar less computation. frequency of a 1,000-nm near infrared
wavelengths from micrometers to signal is 300 THz (300 : 10 12 Hz). This
nanometers. Most of the radar spectra extreme frequency means that the
are easily accommodated by conventional antenna struc- optical carrier can support envelope bandwidths up to
tures since they are of dimensions that can be easily fabri- 150THz in theory, far beyond the carrier frequency of nearly
cated. On the other hand, due to the nanometer-scale dimen- all conventional radar.
sions required and frequencies in the hundreds, or even The most common means of detection is the use of
thousands, of terahertz, conventional antennae and elec- semiconductor photodiodes [11]. There are a number of dif-
tronic signal processing are not practical. While advances in ferent photodiode technologies, such as standard photodi-
photonics and terahertz electronics are likely to change this odes, avalanche photodiodes, and Geiger-mode avalanche
in the future, commercial availability of the necessary photodiodes, and these are usually implemented in silicon
sophistication is years away. (Si), indium gallium arsenide, or germanium. Commercial
photodiodes can have bandwidths that extend into the tens
Short Wavelength Benefits of gigahertz or higher.
Given the challenges, what are the benefits of using light
as a carrier? First and foremost, shorter wavelength Transmitters
means better spatial and temporal resolution. Under nor- To make use of the available detection bandwidth, the enve-
mal circumstances, only feature sizes larger than the lope bandwidth of the transmitted pulse must also be high.
wavelength are easily resolved; thus, optical wavelengths This implies a high modulation bandwidth. Furthermore,
are capable of resolving the centimeter- and millimeter- since only the envelope is detected, a high depth of modula-
scale feature sizes required for mapping on a human tion means a larger signal. Thus, the ideal shape of the enve-
scale. The high frequencies and corresponding short peri- lope resembles a pulse where the optical signal goes from
ods mean better temporal resolution, as well as spatial zero to maximum output and back with the shortest possible
resolution of moving objects. A second benefit has to do transitions. Thus, the ideal optical source generates an optical
with the transmitter beam size. A small beamwidth is impulse. There are many different sources of light that can be
desirable so that a small target area can be sampled in a used in a lidar transmitter, including spark gaps, xenon flash
3-D space, but a small beamwidth typically requires an lamps, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and lasers. While all of
emitting structure that is larger than the wavelength. This these sources have found use in lidar at one point or another,
requirement is far easier to meet with optical wavelengths LEDs and solid-state laser diodes are particularly attractive
than with the much larger wavelengths of a radar system. due to small size, high bandwidth, high reliability, low cost,
Another advantage of a small beam is that the transmitted and relatively simple drive circuits. In particular, laser diodes
energy remains concentrated in a small area. This also have enabled sophisticated lidar systems with such a small
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Figure 8(a). This laser diode actually has three stacked laser
diode junctions grown in series on a single chip, allowing
greater light output. The result is a typical diode voltage of
9 V, including both the junction voltage drop and the diode
series resistance. This occurs at the rated diode current of
30A, for a peak diode electrical power of 270 W and an opti-
cal output power of 75 W. The high peak power means that
the diode can operate for very short pulses only (100 ns max-
imum) and with a low duty cycle. Furthermore, the diode
has rated rise and fall times of 1 ns, although the test condi-
(a) (b)
tions are not clearly specified. Finally, a close-up view of the
laser diode reveals a set of bond wires that, in conjunction
with the lead frame, have significant parasitic inductance.
FIG 8 (a) A close-up of OSRAM SPL PL90_3 laser diode in plastic
package and (b) an Excelitas TPGAD1S09H laser diode in sur- In addition, a typical Si metaloxidesemiconductor FET
face-mount package. (MOSFET) will also have significant parasitic inductance.
An aggressive design with a typical laser diode and surface-
mount Si MOSFET will optimistically have total power loop
size and low power requirement that they can be mounted on inductance on the order of 5 nH.
small drones or in cars. Figure 8 shows the SPL PL90_3, a Suppose we wish to develop a laser driver that can
low-cost 905-nm commercial laser diode from OSRAM Opto- extract the full potential of the chosen laser. To reach a
electronics [12] and a similarly rated surface-mount peak current of 30 A in 1 ns, the stray inductance of the
TPGAD1S09H laser diode from Excelitas [13]. laser diode requires a minimum voltage of 150 V. Hence, we
need a switch that can support a 30-A current with a voltage
Solid-State Diode Lidar Transmitters rating of 2150 V. We can certainly find a MOSFET that can
Now that we have a basic understanding of lidar and what is meet this current and voltage rating, but it is impossible to
needed from the optical transmitter, we need to take a look find one that can switch in less than 1 ns. A harsher real-
at the implementation of an optical transmitter. It seems ity sets in when one realizes that the initial estimate is for
simple enoughwe just need to turn a diode on and off. a switch that operates instantaneously and that to reach a
Consider using a transistor under the control of a logic cir- goal of 1 ns turn-on, the switch must be capable of a transi-
cuit in series with a laser diode and voltage source. When tion time in the few hundred picosecond range. A very fast
the logic signal drives the field-effect transistor (FET) gate Si MOSFET with the required specs can switch in a few
high, the FET turns on, its channel becomes conductive, nanoseconds. Although this is very fast, it is not even close
and current flows from the bus, through the diode, and to to extracting the benefit of the laser diode. A faster switch
the ground. In fact, this will turn the diode on and off. can be chosen, but it will have reduced voltage and current
However, there are a number of challenges [14]. capability. This will lower thepulse energy and reduce the
range. Either way, we throw away laser diode performance
Typical Requirements and Challenges due to MOSFET limitations.
First of all, the voltage drop of diodes is normally a strong As discussed previously, one can use multiple pulses and
function of temperature. The usual consequence is a drop signal processing to improve the resolution and accuracy. This
in diode voltage as it heats up. This allows more current to means either slower mapping or lower measurement density.
flow, which forms a positive feedback that can lead to ther- Another problem that arises is pulse-to-pulse repeatability.
mal runaway. This can be mitigated via current sensing and When sending multiple pulses, different factors can change
feedback control of either the on-state gate voltage or con- the pulses. Jitter in the pulse source or gate drive causes tim-
trol of the bus voltage. This active feedback control adds ing errors that reduce the precision of the measurement. Over
complexity, size, and cost. Another solution is to add a bal- a series of pulses, the laser diode and driver can heat up, and
last impedance, often a resistor, in series with the diode, the power supply can droop, causing changes in pulse timing
such that the total driving voltage to the diode drops as and shape that result in additional errors.
current increases. However, this will limit the peak laser
current and thus the range of the lidar. It can also add sub- Laser Diode Drivers for Lidar
stantial loss, an ever-present concern for personal elec- There are a number of methods to drive laser diodes, but
tronic devices, such as augmented reality goggles. we will focus on two of the primary types of drivers, the
Larger concerns loom once the engineer starts looking at capacitive discharge and the FET controlled, both shown in
actual requirements and components. We start by looking at Figure 9 in a common source configuration. Even these
a typical, low-cost laser diode designed for pulse operations, simple circuits can have many variations, and covering
the OSRAM SPL PL90_3, a 905-nm wavelength laser diode those is beyond the scope of this article. As a result, we will
in a low-cost molded plastic through-hole package shown in focus only on the simplest versions.
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In a capacitive discharge circuit, a capacitor C BUS is big benefit since many gate drivers have a minimum pulse-
charged during the off-time of the laser diode. In the nor- width specification that is much greater than the desired
mal case, switch Q Ldrv is turned on, and the capacitor pulsewidth. The FET and gate drive are ground-referenced,
discharges through the diode, the switch, and any stray simplifying the circuit. With a high-voltage FET, one can
inductance L stray in the power loop. This forms a resistor- increase the initial capacitor voltage. This can be used to
inductor-capacitor circuit in which the current i LASER rings get very high energy pulses or to reduce capacitor size to
up and discharges the capacitor. Eventually, the capacitor get a shorter pulse.
voltage becomes negative, causing the current to decrease However, the capacitive discharge circuit has a number
until it reaches zero. After this point, the laser diode pre- of drawbacks. Since the pulse shape is largely fixed for a
vents reverse conduction, the FET is turned back off, and given design, it is difficult to do complex pulse sequences. In
the capacitor C BUS recharged for the next pulse. Thus, in the addition, the time to recharge the capacitor limits the maxi-
ideal lossless case, the laser diode current is described by mum PRF and compromises the lidar sample rate. A high-
a half-cycle of a sine wave of frequency Fres and amplitude voltage supply is needed, which adds expense and takes
I res , where up valuable space within the system. For Si FETs, figures
of merit worsen rapidly as drain voltage rating increases.
1 The high voltage means greater Q GD and slower turn-on.
Fres = , (3)
2r L stray C BUS Laser diodes often have relatively low reverse breakdown
V C BUS voltages; hence, an antiparallel diode may be needed to pro-
I res = RBUS = VBUS L stray . (4) tect the laser from turn-off ringing. Due to the high speeds,
0
this simple addition can greatly complicate the behavior
There are several benefits to the capacitive discharge of the circuit due to its own inductance and capacitance.
approach. Stray inductance is incorporated into the circuit Many diodes, including so-called Schottky diodes, can take
operation. Laser pulse energy is well controlled, eliminat- a surprisingly long time (several nanoseconds) to turn on,
ing thermal runaway, thus increasing pulse-to-pulse repeat- greatly reducing clamping effectiveness. Despite the dis-
ability. The minimum pulsewidth of the gate drive can be advantages, the simplicity and the ability to accept stray
substantially longer than the diode current pulse, which is a inductance make this approach popular.
vBUS VBUS
iCHRG CBUS Dclmp Lstray VBUS CBUS Dclmp Lstray

+
Large Small
DL DL
Small Large
iLASER iLASER
vdrain vdrain
QLdrv vcommand QLdrv

vcommand
+ + +
+
vGS vGS

iLASER iLASER
vcommand
vcommand
t t
(a) (b)
FIG 9 The most common laser diode driver circuits for pulsed lidar applications. (a) A capacitive discharge driver and (b) an FET-
controlled driver.
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matically changed what is possible with lidar diode drivers

[15]. The vastly improved figures-of-merit (FOM) com-
pared to Si, in particular Q Gtot : R DS(on), allow much greater
switching speeds. Furthermore, the lateral device struc-
ture enables use of chip-scale packaging, which, in turn,
has extremely low stray inductance, on the order of
100pH or less.
Figure 10 shows two eGaN FETs well-suited to the two
(a) (b)
lidar driver topologies discussed. The first is the EPC2016C,
a 100-V, 16-mX FET with a pulse current rating of 75 A, a
FIG 10 Two eGaN FETs well suited for laser diode driver
applications. (a) The EPC2016C 100-V, 16-mX, 75-A FET and (b) good choice for use in a capacitive discharge laser driver
the EPC2040 15-V, 28-mX, 28-A FET. (Images courtesy of EPC.) due to the high voltage rating [16]. The second is the
EPC2040, a 15-V, 28-mX, 28-A pulse current rating device, a
good choice for FET-controlled lidar drivers [17].
In the FET-controlled driver, one replaces the small A comparison of the chosen eGaN FETs to similar Si
discharge cap C BUS with a larger value cap that stores a MOSFETS is shown in Table 1. The chosen Si MOSFETs
charge much greater than that required by a laser pulse were selected based on similar or identical maximum volt-
and charges this cap from a voltage source VBUS. Then, one age, pulse current, and R DS(on) ratings, as well as the ability
can simply use a gate pulsewidth that produces the desired to operate with a 4.5- or 5-V gate drive. The set of MOSFETs
laser pulsewidth. Laser diode current is limited by the com- was further reduced by selecting only MOSFETs in small,
bination of laser diode and FET series resistance. low-inductance packages.
The advantages of the FET-controlled driver include In a lidar application, the primary factor is device speed,
control over pulsewidth and higher maximum PRF. This which is determined by gate resistance, gate charge, and
allows more complex pulse sequences with the benefits gate and source inductance. R DS(on) is of secondary impor-
already discussed. It also does not need the high volt- tance as long as it does not substantially reduce the volt-
ages of the capacitive discharge driver. The main draw- age available to drive the laser and the stray inductance.
backs of this approach are twofold. First, diode current The gate speed FOM Q Gtot : R DS(on) indicates a fundamental
is difficult to control, and current sensing and voltage limit on device speed. The total gate charge is used because
bus control are often necessary to ensure pulse-to-pulse the complex and nonlinear nature of the load impedance
repeatability. The greater challenge is stray inductance. means that there is little insight to be gained by parsing the
For this approach to work, the circuit must switch components of gate charge.
slowly enough that stray inductance does not signifi- For small, low-voltage FETs, we see that MOSFETs have
cantly degrade the waveforms. Considering the afore- both high gate charge and high gate resistance. This yields
mentioned parasitic inductance, this means rise and fall a gate speed FOM 2 25 times that of the EPC2040 eGaN
times as much as an order of magnitude slower than the FET. Thus, while the low-voltage MOSFETs are small and
capacitive discharge approach. can have low inductance, they are very slow compared
to the EPC2040.
Gallium Nitride (GaN) FETs and Lidar For high-voltage MOSFETs, the BSZ146N10LS5 looks
The advent of commercial wide-bandgap power FETs in promising. It has similar gate charge to the EPC2016C,
the form of enhancement-mode GaN (eGaN) FETs has dra- and the higher R DS(on) of the MOSFET will not significantly
Table 1. A comparison of transistors suitable for laser diode drivers.

R DS (on) VDS, max I pulse, max Q Gtot Vdrive Rg Rg $ Qg
FET Technology [mX] [V] [A] [nC] [V] [X] [X $ nC] Package
EPC2016C GaN 16 100 75 3.4 5 0.4 1.36 LGA 2.1 # 1.6
AON7232 Si 16.5 100 62 12 4.5 1.2 14.4 DFN 3.3 # 3.3
BSZ146N10LS5 Si 20.8 100 80 3.2 4.5 1 3.2 DFN 3.3 # 3.3
EPC2040 GaN 28 15 28 0.93 5 0.4 0.372 LGA 1.2 # 0.8
FDMA410NZT Si 23 20 63 10 4.5 1.4 14 DFN 2 # 2
CSD13385F5 Si 19 12 41 3.9 4.5 20 78 LGA 1.5 # 0.8
CSD15571Q2 Si 19.2 20 52 2.5 4.5 3.8 9.5 DFN 2 # 2
LGA: land grid array; DFN: dual-flat, no-lead.
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40 vdrain(10 V/div)
EPC2016C vopt(0.2 V/div)
30 BSZ146N10LS5
FET Drain Voltage (V)

20 ishunt
Laser Current (A)
10 (10 A/div)
0 60
40
20
vgs(5 V/div)
0
20 2 ns/div
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
t (ns)
FIG 12 The EPC9126 lidar demo board capacitive discharge
waveforms. The board is populated with an EPC2016C eGaN
FIG 11 The simulated waveforms comparing the EPC2016C to FET and an OSRAM SPL PL90_1 laser diode. C BUS = 1.1 nF,
the BSZ146N10LS5. charged to 50V.
affect the waveform. However, the gate speed FOM is the long turn-on time as indicated from the drain voltage
more than two times higher due to the larger gate resis- waveform. The drain parasitic resistance and inductance of
tance. This, combined with the extra package induc- the Si MOSFET mean that it does not turn fully on for nearly
tance, will result in limited performance versus the the entire current pulse.
EPC2016C. We can estimate the difference using simu- Table 2 shows some numerical results for peak laser
lation since both the EPC2016C and the BSZ146N10LS5 diode current amplitude I LD,peak and pulsewidth measured
have good quality models, and the BSZ146N10LS5 model from the 0.1 : I LD,peak crossings (10% pulsewidth). On the
includes package inductances. left-hand side of the table, we consider the case described
These high-voltage transistors are best suited for a previously L stray = 3 nH, and on the right-hand side, we
capacitive discharge laser driver. The simulation includes consider a surface-mount laser diode with reduced stray
an OSRAM SPL PL90_3 laser diode and 1.1-nF energy inductance L stray = 2 nH. For each case, the ideal values
storage capacitor ^C BUS h, with an initial capacitor voltage based on (3) and (4), and the improvement of GaN over Si
of 58 V. The power loop inductance, including the laser is computed. From the table, we can see that, in the first
diode but excluding the transistor and its package, is case, the eGaN FET shows a large improvement over the
estimated to be 3 nH based on the EPC9126 lidar demo Si MOSFET. More interesting is the case where the diode
board layout. A near ideal gate drive is used, modeled by a inductance is reduced. The benefit of GaN over Si grows.
voltage source with a 200-ps transition time and 300-mX This is due to the fact that, with Si, the performance is
output resistance. limited by the FET, and even a large reduction of laser
Figure 11 shows the results. It is clear that the pulse inductance will yield small benefits. In the case of GaN,
from the EPC2016C is both higher in amplitude and shorter the inductance is still limiting the performance; hence,
in duration, both of which are desirable. The drain voltage improved laser diode packaging will yield large benefits.
indicates that the FET turns fully on in 1 1 ns, resulting in
a laser current pulse resembling the desired half-sine. In Measured Performance
contrast, the current pulse in the MOSFET case shows a The EPC9126 demo board has been designed to operate as
slower rise and reduced peak amplitude. This results from a capacitive discharge laser diode driver and comes with
Table 2. A numerical comparison of lidar driver simulation results

for the EPC2016C (eGaN FET) and BSZ146N10LS5 (Si MOSFET).
L stray = 3 n (excluding FET) L stray = 2 n (excluding FET)
Ideal EPC2016C BSZ146N10LS5 Benefit Ideal EPC2016C BSZ146N10LS5 Benefit
I D,peak [A] 35.1 30.1 22.6 33% 43.0 35.9 23.7 52%
10% PW [ns] 5.34 5.39 7.07 31% 4.36 4.43 6.39 44%
PW: pulsewidth.
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vdrain(10 V/div) vdrain(2 V/div)

id (4 A/div) id (2 A/div)
vgs(5 V/div)
2 ns/div 1 ns/div
(a) (b)
FIG 13 Direct control eGaN FET waveforms with low inductance resistive load and new Texas Instruments gate driver. (a) The
EPC2016C with 2.5-X load and 75-V bus. (b) The EPC2040 with1-X load and 8.5-V bus.
the EPC2016C eGaN FET and a commercially available with a 1-X load and an 8.5-V bus. Both circuits have a total
gate driver, the Texas Instruments UCC27611, although it power loop inductance of fewer than 400 pH, including the
can accommodate the much larger EPC2001C, a 100-V, FET, decoupling capacitors, and load resistors. The wave-
7-mX FET with a 150-A pulse current rating [18], [19]. forms are shown in Figure 12.
Some typical waveforms for the EPC2016C with the Figure 13(a) shows that the combination of the improved
OSRAM SPL PL90_1 laser diode are shown in Figure 12. gate drive and low inductance resistive load means that the
While the conditions are not identical to the simulated EPC2016C with 2.5-X load can switch 30 A and 75 V, turning
case, the waveforms of Figure 12 show a close resemblance on in 1.2 ns and off in 0.9 ns. It should be noted that there is
to the simulated waveforms of Figure 11. The voltage drops still room to reduce gate loop inductance, so faster speeds
40 V in just over 1 ns, with the reduction in speed versus may be possible. This means that a low-cost eGaN FET and
simulation due primarily to the reduced capabilities of the driver in conjunction with a wire-bond-free low-inductance
real gate drive circuit. The current in C BUS is estimated with laser diode should be able to generate a 30-A peak pulse
a shunt, and the shunt parasitics substantially distort the with a total half-power pulsewidth approaching 1 ns.
current waveform. However, the signal v opt from the optical At low voltage, shown in Figure 13(b), the EPC2040
detector shows the expected optical pulse (the timing skew with 1-X load can switch 8 A at 8 V, turning on in 350ps
is not corrected due to lack of an electro-optical deskew- and off in 250 ps, which is very fast for a power FET with
ing fixture). This is exceptional performance for a low-cost this rating. Note also the narrow pulsewidth possible with
FET and gate driver. the new Texas Instruments gate drive IC, as the total pulse-
Ultrafast FET control of laser diodes is less mature. With width is only 2.16 ns. This circuit has also been operated
GaN, the FET is no longer the main limitation, and the diode with a PRF of 10 MHz, and higher PRFs are possible.
inductance and gate drivers have become the main limiting It is clear from Figure 13 that with eGaN FETs, high-
factors. Laser diode inductance is being addressed by sup- power subnanosecond rise and fall times are possible. The
pliers, and improved packaging is becoming available. One FET is no longer the limiting factor in a laser diode driver.
example is the Excelitas TPGAD1S09H, a surface-mount Fortunately, the development of gate drivers and low induc-
laser diode shown in Figure 8(b). High-speed gate drivers tance lasers appears to be moving forward as well, allowing
are also in development. The 5-V gate drive of eGaN FETs further reduction in optical pulsewidth.
allows the use of better Si technology and faster gate drivers.
To understand the boundaries of FET and gate driver Future Developments
performance, two direct drive circuits were evaluated. A There are a number of parallel paths for improving lidar sys-
parallel array of low-inductance resistors was used in place tems. For transmitters, continued large improvements are
of the laser diodes so that the circuit was not limited by expected in GaN performance due to its newcomer status. Of
laser diode package inductance and to allow estimation of even greater importance is the fact that lateral GaN FET tech-
FET current. The gate driver integrated circuit (IC) used nology is a natural fit for power ICs due to the ability to reduce
was an upcoming GaN driver for lidar from Texas Instru- parasitics and increase functionality [20], [21]. One of the first
ments. One circuit used the EPC2016C as the FET with a integrated power GaN power ICs developed for lidar is being
2.5-X load and a 75-V bus, and the other used the EPC2040 tested by lidar leader Velodyne [22]. Now that GaN IC
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development has started, the amount of integrated function- [5] M. Horton. (2016) Meet lidar: The amazing laser technology thats helping
ality will accelerate for years to come. Improvements in laser archaeologists discover lost cities. The Conversation. [Online]. Available:
diodes are also underwayboth in areas of packaging and https://theconversation.com/meet-lidar-the-amazing-laser-technology-thats-
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integration of multiple laser diodes on a single chip or sub- helping-archaeologists-discover-lost-cities-60915.
________________________
strate [23]. Finally, disruptive technologies are being devel- [7] Velodyne LiDAR, Inc. (2015). Velodyne LiDAR PUCK VLP-16 data
oped in optics and photonics. For example, Quanergy is sheet (rev. C). [Online]. Available: http://velodynelidar.com/docs/datasheet/
developing a solid-state laser scanning system for automotive 63-9229_Rev-C_VLP16_Datasheet_Web.pdf
______________________
application without any moving parts [24]. This has the poten- [8] J. Levinson, M. Montemerlo, and S. Thrun. (2007). Map-based precision
tial to greatly reduce cost, size, and performance repeatability vehicle localization in urban environments. Robotics: Science and Systems
of lidar systems, while vastly improving scanning speed. The III. [Online]. Available: http://www.roboticsproceedings.org/rss03/p16.pdf
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has recently devel- [9] J. Tyndall, Light and Electricity: Notes of Two Courses of Lectures before the
oped a photonic IC that contains laser beam steering and an Royal Institution of Great Britain. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1885.
optical-to-electrical receiver [25]. [10] S. A. Hovanessian, Radar System Design and Analysis. Norwood, MA:
So far, we have briefly discussed future developments Artech House, Inc., 1985.
in lidar hardware and have left many aspects of this broad [11] A. Kilpel, Pulsed time-of-flight laser range finder techniques for fast,
topic untouched, such as signal processing and visualiza- high precision measurement applications, Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. Oulu,
tion. These are all of great significance. However, it is of Finland, 2004.
greater importance to take a step back and look at the bigger [12] OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, Inc. (2014). SPL PL90_3 datasheet
(3-D) picture. The ability to accurately map the surrounding (ver. 1.2). [Online]. Available: http://www.osram-os.com/Graphics/
world on a human scale in real time and at low cost is a true XPic3/00194568_0.pdf/SPL%20PL90_3.pdf
_____________________
breakthrough. As with any such technology, many predic- [13] Excelitas Technologies. (2016). Surface mount 905 nm pulsed semi-
tions can be made, but we are likely to be surprised. conductor lasers. [Online]. Available: http://www.excelitas.com/downloads/
DTS_SMD_Laser.pdf
__________
About the Author [14] S. Morgott, Range finding using pulse lasers, application note, OSRAM
John Glaser (john.glaser@epc-co.com)
________________ received his B.S. Opto Semiconductors, Regensberg, Germany, 2004.
degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illi- [15] A. Lidow, J. Strydom, M. de Rooij, and D. Reusch, GaN Transistors for
nois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1987 and his M.S. and Ph.D. Efficient Power Conversion. New York: Wiley, 2015.
degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Ari- [16] Efficient Power Conversion Corp. (2015). EPC2016C data sheet.
zona in 1991 and 1996, respectively. From 1998 to 2014, he [Online]. Available: epc-co.com/epc/Portals/0/epc/documents/datasheets/
was with General Electric Global Research in Niskayuna, EPC2016C_datasheet.pdf
_____________
New York, where he worked on high-performance switch- [17] Efficient Power Conversion Corp. (2015). EPC2040 data sheet. [Online].
mode power converters, very-high-frequency amplifiers, Available: _________________________________
epc-co.com/epc/Portals/0/epc/documents/datasheets/EPC2040_
induction heating, electronic ballasts, Si-carbide-power semi- datasheet.pdf
_______
conductors, and magnetics for applications ranging from [18] Texas Instruments, Inc. (2015). UCC27611 data sheet. [Online]. Available:
lamp drivers to magnetic resonance imaging. In 2014, he www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ucc27611.pdf).
____________________
joined the Efficient Power Conversion Corporation as direc- [19] Efficient Power Conversion Corp. (2014). EPC2001C data sheet.
tor of applications engineering, where he develops applica- [Online]. Available: epc-co.com/epc/Portals/0/epc/documents/datasheets/
tions, circuits, and methods to maximize the benefit of galli- EPC2001C_datasheet.pdf
_____________
um nitride power transistors and to drive adoption in the [20] M. De Rooij, Wireless Power HandbookA Supplement to GaN Tran-
power electronics community. He has published more than sistors for Efficient Power Conversion, 2nd ed. El Segundo, CA. Power
25papers and has been granted 29 U.S. patents, with several Conversion Publications, 2015.
more pending. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE. [21] D. Kinzer and S. Oliver, Monolithic HV GaN power ICs, IEEE Power
Electron. Mag., vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 1421, Sept. 2016.
References [22] E. Ackerman. (2016, Dec. 13). Velodyne says its got a breakthrough
[1] M. Barnard. (2016, July 29). Tesla & Google disagree about LIDAR in solid state lidar design. IEEE Spectrum. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum
Which is right? Cleantechnica. [Online]. Available: https://cleantechnica
___________ .ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/sensors/velodyne-announces-
_______________________________________
.com/2016/07/29/tesla-google-disagree-lidar-right/ breakthrough-in-solid-state-lidar-design
____________________
[2] P. McManamon, Field Guide to Lidar, 1st ed. Bellingham, WA: SPIE [23] OSRAM Opto Semiconductors. (2016, Nov. 7). A milestone for laser
Press, 2015. sensors in self-driving cars. [Online]. Available: https://www.osram.com/os/
[3] (2012). Starfire optical range at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. press/press-releases/a_milestone_for_laser_sensors_in_self-driving_cars.jsp
______________________________________
[Online]. Available: http://www.kirtland.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/ [24] E. Ackerman. (2016, Jan. 7). Quanergy announces $250 solid-state LIDAR
Article/825974/starfire-optical-range-at-kirtland-air-force-base-new-mexico
_____________________________________ for cars, robots, and more. IEEE Spectrum. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum
[4] Lunar and Planetary Institute. Apollo 11 science experimentsLaser rang- .ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/sensors/quanergy-solid-state-lidar
ing retroreflector. [Online]. Available: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/ [25] C. Poulton and M. Watts. (2016, Aug. 4). MIT and DARPA pack Lidar
apollo/apollo_11/experiments/lrr/, http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/
_________________ sensor onto single chip. IEEE Spectrum. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum
apollo/apollo_11/images/laser_rr_lg.gif
___________________ .ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/optoelectronics/mit-lidar-on-a-chip
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Generation-After-Next
Power Electronics
Ultrawide-bandgap devices, high-temperature packaging,
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/STUDIO-PRO
and magnetic nanocomposite materials
by Robert J. Kaplar, Jason C. Neely, Dale L. Huber, and Lee J. Rashkin
A
new generation of power electronic conversion revolutionary SWaP requires a systems focus. This arti-
systems is being enabled by wide- bandgap cle discusses several developing technologies that are
(WBG) devices. Applications in both the expected to greatly increase power converter densities
civilian and defense sectors are already beyond where they are today.
beginning to benefit from the improved
size, weight, and power (SWaP) now being demonstrated Impact of WBG on Converter SWaP
in power converters utilizing silicon carbide (SiC) and/or Rather impressive improvements in power density have
gallium nitride (GaN) switches, and numerous manufac- been reported recently for converters built using GaN and/
turers are offering various types of switching devices or SiC devices. In [1], the authors provided an apples-to-
fabricated from these two WBG semiconductors. apples comparison by building two three-phase inverters
While SiC devices are more mature, recent prog- first using Si insulated-gate bipolar transistors and then
ress in vertical GaN devices grown on native GaN sub- 4H-SiC junction gate field-effect transistors (FETs). The
strates is now pushing the envelope in WBG power device SWaP characteristics were then compared. The new WBG
per formance. Indeed, the critical electric field for ava- switches operated at a higher frequency (increasing from
lanche breakdown of GaN may be nearly twice that of 10 kHz to 30 kHz) and at a higher junction temperature
SiC ( +4.0 MV/cm for GaN, compared to +2.2 MV/cm for (300 C versus 100 C), and the switching losses were con-
4H-SiC), suggesting that significant improvement relative siderably lower. The result was a 67% reduction in the vol-
to SiC may be possible for vertical GaN. However, truly ume of the inductor and capacitor filter, a 92% reduction in
dramatic improvements in power device performance are the volume of the heatsink, and a reduction in losses (210 W
likely to require a new class of semiconductor materials versus 450 W loss at a 10-kW output). Similar analyses have
with bandgaps greater than that of GaN (3.4 eV); these been done to evaluate Si- and GaN-based converters [2].
are the so-called ultrawide-bandgap (UWBG) semicon- These characteristics of WBG devices and their impact
ductors. However, as semiconductor switches become on converter SWaP are well known to the industry by now,
capable of greater hold-off voltage, higher switching and additional benefits are being realized as more research-
frequency, and higher junction temperature, limits on ers investigate GaN-based converter designs. Recently in
converter performance will likely depend more critically [3], the authors described a 2-kVA single-phase inverter built
on the balance of the system (BoS): device packaging, using low-voltage GaN FETs in a flying capacitor multilevel
filter components, and thermal management. Achieving converter topology mated with an active energy buffer. The
converter housing was just 4.02 # 2.42 # 0.95 in3, achiev-
ing an astonishing 216-W/in3 power density (see Figure 1).
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 While WBG technology is enabling these improvements,
36 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017 2329-9207/172017IEEE
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several institutions, including industry and government than a decade. This, however, begs the question: what will
agencies, are motivating and incentivizing progress. come next?
Chasing SWaP Whats Next? UWBG Materials

Improving converter power density, specific power, and The success of Googles Little Box Challenge was openly
efficiency has been a goal for some time. In particular, attributed to the innovative use of WBG devices, in particu-
the power density of power electronic converters has lar GaN. This, of course, was no surprise; each of the
roughly doubled every ten years since 1970 [4]. This aforementioned SWaP targets was inspired by the promise
trend is based on a survey of converters from research of WBG. Soon, new UWBG semiconductors will help to
and industry institutions [5]. However, power density continue the progress toward improved SWaP.
and efficiency goals have recently been popularized by A number of UWBG semiconductors are currently being
certain institutional targets. In 2013, the Naval Power studied in research labs worldwide, including diamond (C),
Systems Technology Development Roadmap identified gallium oxide (Ga 2 O 3), and aluminum nitride (AlN). These
several goals for power systems, including a 1.25-MW/m3 hold the promise of leapfrogging the current industry tra-
(about 20.5 W/in3) power density and a 98% efficiency by jectory. In particular, our laboratory has focused on AlN
2023 [6]. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Energys Office (E G = 6.2 eV), which may be alloyed with GaN. The ternary
of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE/ AlGaN material provides a number of advantages, including
EERE) identified target metrics of 100 W/in3 and 98% the ability to form heterostructure-based devices as well as
efficiency for power electronic converters for residential the availability of polarization doping.
and small commercial photovoltaic systems [7]. In addi- The primary factor driving the potential for enhanced
tion, DOE/EERE identified a goal of 13.4 kW/L (nearly performance of UWBG-based devices is the dependence
220 W/in3) as a target for electric vehicle power electron- of the critical electric field for avalanche breakdown (E C)
ics by 2020 [8], with a system-level efficiency of 94%. Per- on bandgap (E G), which is believed to follow a power law
haps the best known is Googles Little Box Challenge, E C + E Gn, with n between 2.0 and 2.5. (The exact nature
which offered a US$1 million prize for a 2-kVA single- of this dependence is at present a topic of research in
phase inverter that would fit in a 40-in3 volume (50 W/in3) the UWBG community.) The so-called unipolar figure of
and be 95% efficient [9]. As was well publicized, the Red merit (UFOM) that relates breakdown voltage V B to area-
Electrical Devils of Belgium won this prize for develop- normalized specific on-resistance R on, sp, defined as V 2B
ing a converter that demonstrated a 143-W/in 3 power
density [10] and survived the competitions battery of tests.
Other institutions also participated and documented
their systems with power densities ranging from 50 to
216W/in3 [3], [11].
While these accomplishments have demonstrated a
substantial leap forward in power density, the power den-
sities demonstrated by research institutions tend to lead
(a) (b)
industry systems by approximately ten years [4], [5]. This is
due to the lengthy technology maturation process, which
FIG 1 (a) A 2-kVA flying capacitor multilevel inverter with a
includes establishing reliability and reducing manufactur- power buffer based on GaN FET technology and (b) the con-
ing cost. Nonetheless, we may see 100200-W/in3 single- verter housing compared to a deck of cards, illustrating
phase inverters begin to appear on store shelves in less 216 W/in3. (Figure used with permission from [3].)
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Note that different expressions apply

to vertical and lateral devices. For
SiTodays Standard
the vertical UFOM (vUFOM), f is the
Specific On-Resistance (m cm2)
102
vUFOM GaN material permittivity and n n is the bulk
= VB2/R
Ron,sp = nEC3 /4 Lateral Devices Fairly Mature
1 electron mobility (vertical device drift
10 Vertical Devices Emerging
Improving regions are typically n-type, due to the
Performance
higher mobility of electrons compared
100
N to holes). For the lateral UFOM, q is the
15 AIN
G a 0. electron charge, n ch is the channel elec-
5
Unexplored Space
101 .8
AI 0 Unprecedented Performance tron mobility (which may not equal the
bulk electron mobility n n, especially
102 2 for heterostructure-based devices),
10 103 104
and n s is the channel sheet charge
Breakdown Voltage (V) AIGaN
Unexplored Space
density. While the vUFOM scales as
SiC
Unprecedented Performance the cube of E C and the lateral UFOM
Many Commercial Heterostructures Are Available
Devices Now Available scales only as the square of E C, n s in
the lateral UFOM may be quite large
( +10 13 cm -2 for III-N heterostructures),
FIG 2 The vUFOM for several semiconductor materials.
resulting in comparable vertical and
lateral UFOMs for a given material. For
both device types, it is desirable to simultaneously maximize
V B and minimize R on,sp. The FOM is thus maximized and pro-
SiNx Pd/Au
vides a convenient performance metric. Figure 2 illustrates
p-Al0.05Ga0.95N/GaN the vUFOM for several semiconductor materials, showing the
p-Al0.3Ga0.7N benefits of UWBG materials. It should be noted that UWBG
materials are likely better suited for realizing devices in
the approximate range of 115 kV and will yield the most
n-Al0.3Ga0.7N
benefit in higher-voltage and higher-power applications
(4.3 m)
Ti/Al/Mo/Au (i.e., kilovolt/kilowatt).
n+ Al0.3Ga0.7N UWBG Devices

AIN Many of the materials challenges associated with AlGaN-
based devices are being addressed, resulting in the recent
Sapphire
development of a +1,600-V Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 N p-i-n diode [12] and
(a)
an +800-V AlN/Al 0.85 Ga 0.15 N high-electron-mobility transis-
tor (HEMT) [13]. The p-i-n diode is based on a low-doped
(mid-10 16 cm 3), + 4 - nm -thick Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 N n-type drift
region grown on a sapphire substrate. Figure 3 shows the
diode cross-sectional schematic and processed device.
This is a quasi-vertical device, so named because the elec-
trically insulating substrate requires that the n-contacts be
placed on the front surface of the wafer. Combining the
breakdown voltage of +1, 600 V with the differential spe-
cific on-resistance R on,sp of +16 mX $ cm 2 (which is believed
50 m to be limited by lateral current spreading in the n-type con-
tact layer) yields a vUFOM of +150 MW/cm 2, which is to
(b) our knowledge the highest reported for a power device
based on AlGaN.
FIG 3 (a) A cross-sectional schematic of an AlGaN p-i-n diode The HEMT is based on an AlN/Al 0.85 Ga 0.15 N hetero-
and (b) the processed diode. structure. In addition to a breakdown voltage in excess of
800 V, this device has good gate control, a high I on /I off ratio
divided by R on,sp, in turn depends on a power of the critical ^ 210 7 h, a low gate leakage current ^ 110 -7 A h, and an excel-
electric field: lent subthreshold slope (75 mV/decade). To our knowledge,
this is the highest-bandgap material (channel E G +5.7 eV )
V B2 R on,sp = fn n E 3C 4, ^ vertical devices h from which a working transistor has been demonstrated to
V B2 R on,sp = qn ch n s E 2C ^ lateral devices h . date. Currently, the performance of the HEMT is limited by
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highsourceanddrain contact resistance, and ongoing work is account switching and conduction loss, were developed [15].
focused on the fabrication of low-resistance ohmic contacts. Herein, the HMFOM will be considered as a potential empiri-
As this and other challenges are overcome and these devices cal measure for achievable powerdensity.
are matured, the impact on converter SWaP is expected to Table 1 provides a comparison of vUFOM and HMFOM
be considerable. However, predicting this improvement is values for different material types. The parameter values
challenging, and the demands (higher voltage, frequency, and for Si and WBG materials are taken from [12], [16], and [17].
temperature) put on the converter BoS will require greater It is noted that published values vary and, further, that
attention to device packaging and passive component design. these quantities are not simple constants for a given mate-
rial. Rather, they depend on factors such as film thickness,
Predicting Converter PerformanceSort Of electric field profile, doping type and concentration, and
WBG and UWBG materials for power switching devices are defect density. In fact, many of these properties are con-
typically characterized by their bandgap, mobility, dielectric tinuously being reevaluated, so the specific values listed in
constant, critical electric field, and thermal conductivity. the table should be regarded as approximate. Critical field
These characteristics can be combined to compute various values marked with an asterisk were calculated using the
FOMs that correspond to material and device performance, method in [18]. The critical field value cited for Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 N
and as FOM values improve, power densities tend to is a measured value [12]. However, this value was also cal-
increase. However, FOMs are not designed to quantifiably culated in [12] (using the method in [18]) and was shown to
predict converter performance. For example, the relative be approximately consistent with the measured value. How
value of the vUFOM for GaN, as shown in Figure 2, is 1,480 these values should be determined is likewise a subject of
times that of Si; yet, a GaN converter is not 1/1,480th the size debate, and refined methods for evaluating critical field are
of an Si converter. Likewise, UWBG devices promise unprec- the subject of a future work.
edented leaps in FOMs. The vUFOM of AlN is an astonishing After surveying published converter power densi-
43,650 times that of Si, but the landscape of future converter ties, one notices a correlation between the HMFOM and the
performance remains difficult to predict. In other words, it is volumetric power density achieved. Figure 4 illustrates the
not well known how material characteristics and FOMs map
to achievable converter power density, but it is tempting to
try to find an FOM that fits well the observed rise in power 600
Converter Power
Density (W/in3)
density and use it to predict future performance.

One of the earliest FOMs identified for use in power elec- 400
tronics was the Baliga FOM (BFOM, 1983), which represents
200
a relative measure of conduction loss [14]. The BFOM defined
AIN
in [15] scales with the vUFOM previously defined. Other 0
FOMs include the Baliga high-frequency FOM (1989) and 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
the new high-frequency FOM (1995) for describing switching HMFOM (Relative to Si)
loss [15], but these depend on more than material properties dc-dc Converters 3- Inverters
1- Inverters 3- Rectifier
(e.g., the specifics of device design that result in a particular
Trend
input or output capacitance). More recently, the Huang ther-
mal FOM (2004), which measures thermal performance, and FIG 4 The volumetric power density as a function of HMFOM
the Huang material FOM (HMFOM, 2004), which takes into for several converters, extrapolated out to HMFOM for AlN.
Table 1. A comparison of material properties and FOM values [12], [16][18].

Conventional WBG UWBG
Properties Property Silicon 6H-SiC 4H-SiC GaN Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 N Al 0.85 Ga 0.15 AIN
Bandgap (eV) 1.1 3.0 3.3 3.4 4.1 5.7 6.2
n ^cm / Vsh
2 1,400 500 800 1,000 150 150 425
Diel constant 11.9 9.7 10.1 10.4 10.3 10.2 10.1
E C ^MV/cm h 0.3 2.5 2.2 4.0 5.9 13.4* 16.6*
vth (W/cmK) 1.5 4.9 4.9 1.4 0.4 0.5 2.9

FOMs vUFOM (rel) 1 168 191 1,480 705 8,100 43,650
HMFOM (rel) 1 5.0 5.5 11.3 6.4 14.6 30.5
*Calculated using the method in [18].
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published power densities for several converter designs as on many variables, including topology, power quality, the
a function of their HMFOM values, estimated from the indi- BoS, and reliability needs. Predicting the power density of
cated material type [1], [3], [10], [11], [19][23]. These exam- AlGaN-, AlN-, and other UWBG-based converters is highly
ples are restricted to air-cooled converters, at or above 110 V speculative, but the trend is illustrative of the potential that
ac or 380 V dc, that were physically built, wherein the objec- UWBG technology presents. One thing is clear, however:
tive was to maximize power density. For converters using as UWBG devices push the limits of performance, so, too,
switches and diodes of different types, the root-product of must the BoS.
the HMFOM values is used. The data show a clear trend,
and extrapolating out to HMFOM values for AlN predicts Packaging: Reducing Parasitics and Handling Heat
a power density of over 550 W/in 3 . This observed relation- To realize the benefits of WBG and UWBG materials in
ship is certainly not definitive, as power density depends power electronic converters, the device packaging must tol-
erate the same stresses that the devices will see, without
interfering with performance. This means that packaging
C must be developed that adds minimal impedance to the cir-
cuit while maintaining a high hold-off voltage. The packag-
R L1 L2
DUT ing must also maintain insulation integrity at high tempera-
tures. A prototype three-dimensional (3-D)-printed package
(a) (b)
was presented in [24]. Therein, the prototype was designed
Short-Circuit Zin Measurements with a target of a 10-kV hold-off voltage. Additionally, the
Magnitude ()
2 package was designed with a 10-ns rise time in mind, and

10
therefore must have negligible impedance up to approxi-
100 Package Is <1 mately 34 MHz. The pins of the prototype have a 1.4-cm
at 35 MHz spacing and are separated from one side to the other with
102 0.254-cm-thick Ultem. Ultem is a high-temperature-resistant
107 108 109 resin produced by Sabic that allows for a 3-D-printed pack-
100 age that is capable of a high breakdown voltage even under
high-temperature operation. An added barrier between the
Angle ()
pins increases the pin-to-pin tracking length to 2.67 cm.

50
Therein, the pin-to-pin package impedance was character-
ized by a network analyzer over a wide range of frequencies
0 for a package containing a short circuit, an open circuit, and
107 108 109
a circuit with a 50- X load. The measured impedances were
Frequency (Hz)
then fit to an equivalent circuit model. The resulting equiva-
(c)
lent circuit is shown in Figure 5, with R equal to 1 mX, L 1
equal to 1 nH, L 2 equal to 3.5 nH, and a C of 0.6 pF.
FIG 5 (a) The equivalent circuit used to fit parasitics, (b) the
Additionally, the voltage hold-off of the package was
package itself mounted for the network analyzer, and (c) the fit
to a package containing a short circuit [24]. tested (using a 20-kV IV tracer) while in a high-temper-
ature oven. Voltage sweeps of the part were conducted
with the oven at a variety of temperatures. The prototype
package was capable of holding off over 10 kV of voltage,
100 C 75 C
10 even at temperatures of 150 C, but started to fail due to
200 C increased leakage current as the temperature increased
8 40 C to 200 C (Figure 6). Alternative packaging materials and
methods of employing 3-D printing are being examined to
Current (A)
6 improve the high-temperature performance of this type

of packaging.
4
100 C Rethinking Inductor Design
2 150 C
Second While soft ferrites are ubiquitous in power electronics, the
0 Sweep energy density of these magnetic materials diminishes sub-
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 stantially at higher frequencies. This is driven by the need to
manage core losses within the material by limiting the peak
Voltage (kV)
field strength. The two principal loss mechanisms are hyster-
FIG 6 The package (inset) in the high-temperature oven at
esis and eddy current generation, each of which becomes
breakdown, and the results of temperature-dependent voltage more troublesome at higher frequencies. To complement the
hold-off testing [24]. high-frequency operation of power converters, research and
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Summary
The development and maturation of WBG devices has
already realized incredible improvements in power converter
SWaP. WBG devices enable higher switching frequencies,
higher temperatures, and higher voltage hold-off. On the hori-
zon are UWBG devices, which have the potential to push the
envelope even further, especially for high-voltage applica-
20 nm tions. These devices may be essential in meeting aggressive
industry and government targets. However, as semiconductor
(a) (b) devices improve in performance, greater burden is placed on
the performance of device packaging and passive compo-
FIG 7 (a) An artists rendering of nanoparticles in an encapsu- nents. Luckily, new developments are in progress to comple-
lant and (b) an electron micrograph of magnetic nanoparticles ment the capabilities of UWBG devices. These may very well
with precisely tailored size and spacing. Arrays like this can define generation-after-next power electronics.
readily be formed in small samples but must be scaled up dra-
matically to make real inductor materials.
Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Robert Pilawa for providing photos of his
development establishments are rethinking how to fabricate flying capacitor multilevel inverter and the entire UWBG
bulk magnetic materials. One proposed approach is the use Grand Challenge team at Sandia National Laboratories. San-
of magnetic nanocomposites [25]. Superparamagnetic dia is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by
nanoparticles are smaller than the characteristic domain size Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lock-
of a magnetic material and always have a single magnetic heed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Ener-
domain. The moment of each individual superparamagnetic gys National Nuclear Security Administration under con-
nanoparticle is therefore always saturated, but the direction tract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
of magnetization can change. An ensemble of superparamag-
netic nanoparticles will have zero moment in the absence of About the Authors
an external field, because of the random direction of the Robert J. Kaplar (rjkapla@sandia.gov)
_____________ received his B.S.
magnetic moments. If superparamagnetic nanoparticles degree in physics from Case Western Reserve University,
could be fashioned into an inductor material without altering Cleveland, Ohio, in 1994 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
their magnetic properties, they would represent an ideal electrical engineering from The Ohio State University,
material. They have zero magnetic hysteresis and are typi- Columbus, in 1998 and 2002, respectively. In 2002, he joined
cally under 25nm in diameter, which is also too small to sup- Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, as
port eddy currents. Other loss mechanisms, such as magne- a postdoctoral researcher, where he is presently a principal
tostriction, would still exist but are much lower in magni- member of the technical staff. His past work has included III-
tude than hysteretic or eddy current losses. Nitride optoelectronics and semiconductor reliability phys-
An inductor material could thus be realized by suspend- ics, and he is currently focused on wide- and ultrawide-band-
ing superparamagnetic nanoparticles in a nonconductive gap III-Nitride materials and devices for power electronics.
and nonmagnetic material, such as an epoxy encapsulant. Jason C. Neely ( ____________
jneely@sandia.gov) received his B.S.
If the nanocrystals are sufficiently small and suspended and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the Universi-
without strongly interacting with one another, they could ty of Missouri at Rolla (now Missouri University of Science
maintain the lack of magnetic hysteresis and eddy cur- and Technology) in 1999 and 2001, respectively. From 2001
rents. The challenge then is to maximize superparamag- to 2007, he worked at Sandia National Laboratories in the
netic nanoparticle loading to maximize energy density Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center. He received his
without allowing contact or even strong magnetic inter- Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue
actions. The ideal material would include nanoparticles University, West Lafayette, Indiana, in 2010 for the develop-
of a single size, with uniform spacing between them, with ment of new control techniques for power electronics. Since
the nanoparticles as large as possible without losing their 2010, he has been a researcher at Sandia National Laborato-
superparamagnetic behavior and with spacing as small as ries, Albuquerque, New Mexico, focusing on power elec-
possible without leading to strong magnetic interactions tronics, including microgrid systems, grid integration of
(Figure 7). Development of these innovative inductor mate- renewable energy, energy storage, military power systems,
rials has been hampered by a lack of the requisite control and circuit design for wide bandgap devices.
of the nanoparticle size and spacing. Recent advances in Dale L. Huber (dlhuber@sandia.gov)
______________ received his
large-scale nanoparticle synthesis and functionalization B.A. degree in chemistry from the University of Pennsyl-
may finally make the preparation of these nanocomposites vania, Philadelphia, in 1995. He completed his M.S. degree
practical [26]. This would enable compact, high-frequency, in 1996 and his Ph.D. degree in 2000, both in polymer sci-
low-loss inductors for power conversion circuits. ence from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, where his
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research involved the synthesis of nanoparticles and poly- Appl. Power Electronics Conf. and Exposition (APEC), Long Beach, CA,
mers. In 2000, he moved to Sandia National Laboratories, 2016, pp. 19471953.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he has continued his [12] A. A. Allerman, A. M. Armstrong, A. J. Fischer, J. R. Dickerson, M.
research on the synthesis and properties of nanomateri- H. Crawford, M. P. King, M. W. Moseley, J. J. Wierer, and R. J. Kaplar,
als. Since 2006, he has worked in the Center for Integrated Al0.3Ga0.7N PN diode with breakdown voltage >1600 V, Electron. Lett.,
Nanotechnologies at Sandia National Laboratories. vol. 52, no. 15, pp. 13191321, 2016.
Lee J. Rashkin (lrashki@sandia.gov)
____________ received his B.S. [13] A. G. Baca, A. M. Armstrong, A. A. Allerman, E. A. Douglas, C. A.
degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Sanchez, M. P. King, M. E. Coltrin, T. R. Fortune, and R. J. Kaplar, An AlN/
Urbana-Champaign, in 2006 and his M.S. degree in electrical Al0.85Ga0.15N high electron mobility transistor, Appl. Physics Lett., vol.
engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 109, no. 3, pp. 37, 2016.
in 2008. In 2014, he received his Ph.D. degree in electrical [14] B. J. Baliga, Power semiconductor device figure of merit for high-
engineering from Purdue University for analysis done on the frequency applications, IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 10, no. 10, pp.
large-displacement stability of ac microgrids. He has worked 455457, Oct. 1989.
as a researcher for Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquer- [15] A. Q. Huang, New unipolar switching power device figures of merit,
que, New Mexico, since 2014, focusing on power systems. IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 298301, May 2004.
[16] B. Gil, Ed., III-Nitride Semiconductors and Their Modern Devices.
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_____________________ TN, Tech. Rep. ORNL/TM-2003/257, 2003.
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of power density in Si MOSFET and GaN HEMT based flyback converters, wide bandgap semiconductors for power devices, IEEE Trans. Power Elec-
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neering, 2016, pp. 347352. [19] J. Biela, M. Schweizer, S. Waffler, and J. W. Kolar, SiC versus SiEvalu-
[3] Y. Lei, C. Barth, S. Qin, W. Liu, I. Moon, A. Stillwell, D. Chou, T. Foulkes, ation of potentials for performance improvement of inverter and DCDC
Z. Ye, Z. Liao, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, A 2 kW, single-phase, 7-level, GaN converter systems by SiC power semiconductors, IEEE Trans. Ind. Elec-
inverter with an active energy buffer achieving 216 W/in3 power density and tron., vol. 58, no. 7, pp. 28722882, July 2011.
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grated Power Systems, Naples, Italy, June 2006, pp. 153156. [22] Z. Liao, Y. Lei, and R. C. N. Pilawa-Podgurski, A GaN-based flying-
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[9] Introducing the Little Box Challenge. [Online]. Available: ____
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finalists/56568-Tech.pdf
____________ Price, B. D. Fellows, T. C. Monson, N. S. Hudak, L. Maldonado-Camargo,
[11] C. McHugh, S. Sinha, J. Meyer, S. Pervaiz, J. Lu, F. Zhang, H. Chen, H. A. C. Bohorquez, C. Rinaldi, and D. L. Huber, Enhanced nanoparticle size
Kim, U. Anwar, A. Kumar, A. Sepahvand, S. Jensen, B. Choi, D. Seltzer, R. control by extending LaMers mechanism, Chem. Materials, vol. 27, no. 17,
Erickson, D. Maksimovic, and K. Afridi, A high power density single-phase pp. 60596066, 2015.
inverter using stacked switched capacitor energy buffer, in Proc. IEEE
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Tantalum Capacitor
Technology
Options for high-temperature and harsh-environment applications
by Chris Reynolds
T
raditionally, hermetically sealed, wet axial operational requirements of harsher environment indus-
tantalum capacitors, which incorporate a trial applications.
nonsolid electrolyte that promotes self-heal- The proliferation of digital and low-power applications has
ing and long lifetimes, have been used for driven lower operating voltages (625 V) and caused surface-
both high-bulk capacitance (up to 5,600 nF) mount-device (SMD) solutions to become more prevalent.
and high-voltage applications (up to 125 Vdc) suited to For several years, 200 C-rated, high-temperature, solid tan-
industrial applications. In recent years, this technology talum chip devices have been the preferred technology over
has been developed even further to meet the 200 C wet tantalum because of their capacitance ratings up to
220 nF, smaller size, lower cost, and ability to deliver the lower
equivalent series resistance (ESR) and higher-frequency
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 response necessary for high-speed digital applications.
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Hermetic SMD packaging was recently developed for A basic capacitor consists of a pair of conductive or
SMD solid tantalum capacitors. The hermetic seal allows semiconductive plates separated by an insulating dielec-
the internal element to operate in an inert gas environ- tric, which stores the charge when voltage is applied,
ment, offers superior resistance to moisture ingress, and blocking the dc component and enabling the transmis-
enables operation up to 230 C with higher capacitance (up sion of any ac component signal. Electrolytic capacitors
to 330 nF) and voltage (up to 63 Vdc) ranges. Molded and are polar devices in which one plate is maintained at a
hermetic, high-temperature SMD solid tantalum capacitors positive potential and the other at a negative potential.
also exhibit extreme resistance to harsh mechanical shock Solid tantalum capacitors have a tantalum metal posi-
and vibration, and they are available tive plate with an insulating film of
with a range of termination finishes tantalum pentoxide, which acts as
that are compatible with high-temper- the dielectric, on the surface. The
ature printed circuit board (PCB) and A basic capacitor negative plate refers to the counter
hybrid circuit assembly processes, electrode, or cathode, which can be
consists of a pair
high melting point (HMP) solders, manganese dioxide or a conductive
epoxy, and wire bonding. of conductive or polymer. In wet tantalum technol-
This article briefly examines each semiconductive plates ogy, the negative plate is a high-
of these technologies evolution with surface-area tantalum cathode that
regard to materials, design, and test- separated by an includes an acid electrolyte.
ing, and it will also describe the consid- insulating dielectric. The technologies of choice for
erations taken into account to deliver high-temperature applications are:
maximum compatibility with emerg- a solid tantalum with a manganese-
ing requirements in high-temperature dioxide cathode in a molded SMD or
and harsh-environment applications, such as down-hole oil hermetic ceramic package or a wet tantalum in a hermetic
exploration, aerospace and military systems, and under- metal can construction with an axial lead. The cathode
hood automotive electronics. type has the most impact on frequency characteristics,
and it affects the types of applications they suit best.
Changing Demands for Tantalum Capacitors Solid tantalum exhibits a better frequency response for
The requirements that components used in extreme envi- filtering applications, and wet tantalum exhibits higher-
ronmental conditions must satisfy are becoming consider- bulk dc capacitance and higher-voltage ratings.
ably more demanding. Advances in temperature-critical
applications have created the need for components Solid and Wet Tantalum Capacitors
capable of operation at temperatures approaching or Tantalum capacitors are known for their excellent reliabil-
exceeding 200 C. Specific designs, materials, construc- ity, robustness, and parametric stability. Standard tantalum
tion, and testing methods are used to achieve this excep- capacitor technologies have an operating temperature
tionally high-temperature performance and improve range of 55 to +125 C, which covers the needs of con-
volumetric efficiency, and advanced designs and testing sumer electronics and in-cabin automotive electronics.
capabilities provide the necessary tools to incorporate Professional series tantalum chips are currently capable of
these components into high-temperature and harsh- meeting automotive industry specifications (AEC-Q200),
environment applications. and they are capable of continuous operation at tempera-
Traditionally, the largest market for high-temperature tures up to 175 C, with a base reliability of 0.5%/1,000 h.
electronics has been the down-hole oil and gas industry, Advanced, high-temperature tantalum capacitors can cur-
but applications in the avionics, automotive, and several rently meet specifications up to 200 C, while the new
other industries also share the same key requirements for hermetic ceramic packaged design can support operating
reliability under harsh operating conditions, including high temperatures up to 230 C.
humidity and dust and the ability to withstand high levels Both technologies have temperature coefficients of
of shock and vibration. capacitance. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the typical char-
acteristics for solid electrolyte tantalum capacitors, and
Tantalum DielectricHigh-Temperature Technology they show that tantalum capacitors gain in capacitance
Tantalum is one of the few available capacitor technolo- value at higher temperatures, unlike their ceramic coun-
gies that, by incorporating advanced designs and con- terparts. Wet electrolyte tantalum capacitors can achieve
struction methods, can reliably operate at elevated tem- even higher capacitance. The capacitance tolerance limit at
peratures above 175 C. There are a number of different the 25 C specification for solid electrolyte hermetic high-
materials and construction options that can achieve this, temperature series is 20%, but wet electrolytic capacitors
and each has its own electrical, thermal, and mechanical can achieve tolerances of 10% and 20%.
characteristics that can be suited to individual applica- Figure 1 depicts capacitance versus temperature for stan-
tion requirements. dard tantalum capacitors with a tantalum anode, tantalum
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pentoxide dielectric, and manganese-

dioxide counterelectrode. The THJ Typical Capacitance Versus Temperature
Series represents the extended tem- 20
NOS Series
perature version of these capacitors 15
and is designed for use at operating OxiCap
temperatures up to 200 C. OxiCap, a 10
sister technology to tantalum, features
Capacitance (%)
a niobium-oxide anode, niobium-pent- 5
THJ Series
oxide dielectric, and manganese-diox- 0
ide counterelectrode. The NOS Series Tantalum
is another niobium-oxide technology 5
that provides users with a lower
ESR version. 10
The two technologies also have
15
different temperature characteristic
limits for capacitance. Solid electrolyte 20
50 25 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175
hermetic capacitors exhibit narrow
Temperature (C)
capacitance over their operating range,
dropping up to 20% at 55 C, increas-
FIG 1 The capacitance versus temperature for tantalum and niobium-oxide capacitors.
ing by 20% at 85 C, and holding to a
(Figure courtesy of AVX Catalog.)
maximum 30% increase over the 150
230 C range. Wet electrolytic capaci-
tors display a much wider variation
over their operating range, and that Maximum Category Voltage Versus Temperature
variation also depends on their total 120
capacitancevoltage (CV) rating as 100
well as on their size. Their capacitance Tantalum
Rated Voltage (%)
THJ Series
can drop by 20% to 85% at 55 C and 80
increase from +1280% at 125 C. OxiCap
60
Also, although weve focused on
capacitance change with temperature, 40
there will also be variance in ESR NOS Series
which actually has a negative tem- 20
perature coefficient for manganese-
0
dioxide counterelectrodescausing 75 85 95 105 115 125 150 175
them to run about 1020% lower at Temperature (C)
+85 C. In this case, the dissipation
factor will reduce slightly with tem- FIG 2 The voltage derating versus temperature for tantalum capacitors. (Figure
perature, while the equivalent series courtesy of AVX Catalog.)
inductionbeing a function of the
geometry of the capacitor rather than the material setwill increased reliability resulting from reduced application
be essentially invariant. voltage can more than compensate for the decreased
Tantalum capacitors also have an applied voltage reliability resulting from high-temperature operation.
versus temperature relation. At elevated temperatures, This is given in a specification limit, known as the cate-
the voltage ratings specified at ambient temperatures gory voltage, which states the maximum operating volt-
need to be derated, which can also be seen in Figures 1 age that can be applied at the maximum operating tem-
and 2. In fact, for the solid electrolyte hermetic, high- perature. The tantalum dielectric can function well in
temperature capacitors, the category voltagethe volt- applications of 200 C and greater, but other materials
age at which the part can be operated at 230 Cis very in the component construction must also be optimized
high for solid tantalum technology: 50% of rated volt- for these high temperatures.
age. Increasing voltages and temperatures can affect The dc leakage (DCL) for tantalum capacitors also
the reliability of tantalum capacitors in a given appli- exhibits temperature dependence, increasing by a factor
cation. However, the temperature dependency is much of ten between 2585 C limits. The leakage current arises
lower than that of the voltage, which has a log-normal from parallel resistance paths in the dielectric and results
relationship with reliability. This property can be in the slow discharge of the capacitors. In tantalum capaci-
advantageous in high-temperature applications, as the tors, the leakage current increases linearly with elevated
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temperatures, which increase energy loss. This relation- mechanical robustness, satisfying mechanical shock and
ship can be seen in Figure 2. vibration specifications of 1.5 g (0.5 ms, 5x, XYZ planes) and
For the solid electrolyte hermetic, high-temperature 20 g vibration (102,000 Hz at 125 C).
capacitors, the DCL specification limit for operation at Two case sizes for the ceramic housing have been
125 C is 12.5 times the initial limit. Wet tantalum is a developed: 11.8 12.5 5.8 mm and 11.8 6 2.6 mm.
proven, mature technology that was developed approxi- In these packages, capacitor elements can provide very
mately 50 years ago. Wet tantalum capacitors packaged high capacitance ratings (up to 470 nF) over a wide volt-
in a hermetically sealed can (typically, a tantalum metal age range (1650 Vdc). Given the capacitance stability
casing) are available in high-temper- over the whole temperature range
ature designs suitable for operating (55230C)noting that capacitance
temperatures up to 200 C with a actually increases with tempera-
category voltage of 60% of the room In tantalum capacitors, turethese capacitors can enable
temperature rated voltage (0.6 Vr). significant size reductions and lower
the leakage current
With material advances in powder, component counts in high-tempera-
silver, molding resin, and other mate- increases linearly with ture electronic systems. This series
rials, solid tantalum capacitors with elevated temperatures, also offers undertab (facedown) ter-
molded body constructions have minations for general use as well as a
achieved a proven track record in which increase J-lead termination options for appli-
200 C applications. Increasing this energy loss. cations with extreme mechanical
technologys maximum operating tem- operating conditions.
perature beyond 200 C has long been
problematic due to exceeding the Termination Material Options
glass transient temperature of the epoxy materials used Tantalum capacitors are available with a variety of
in the body construction, along with other mechanisms termination and metallization materials. Designed to deliver
related to humidity and oxygen deterioration within the robust, reliable performance at elevated temperatures, high-
tantalum element. However, a new developmentsolid temperature designs incorporate metals with melting points
tantalum capacitor elements housed in hermetically sealed well above the temperature rating of the capacitor, such as
ceramic packagesrecently resulted in a new 230 C- tin, palladium/silver, and gold plating.
rated SMD capacitor. For mounting, many solders used in commercial sys-
The new high-temperature SMD tantalum capacitor tems have low liquidus points that prevent their use in high-
encloses the capacitor element in a hermetically sealed temperature applications. These applications require HMP
ceramic housing with nitrogen inside, as the inert gas inner solder and/or high-temperature epoxies with a liquidus
atmosphere inhibits oxidation of the solid electrolyte. This phase around +265 C. Above the liquidus phase tempera-
design has demonstrated excellent performance during tures, the solder enters a phase of plasticity that may cause
high-temperature operating life testing (2,000 h, 230 C, issues with PCB mounting. Taking this into consideration, it
0.5Vr) and moisture-resistance testing (64 h, 120 C, 85% rel- is important to select an HMP solder material that exceeds
ative humidity, Vr). The new design also exhibits excellent the operational temperature of the system. High-temperature
Leakage Current Versus Temperature

100
Current Ratio I /IR20
10
Leakage
0.1
40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100 125 150 175
Temperature (C)
FIG 3 The leakage current versus temperature for tantalum capacitors. (Figure courtesy of AVX Catalog.)
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epoxies are also used to enable high-

temperature mounting and provide
enhanced mechanical reliability due to
their elastic properties. Additionally,
the wet cylindrical tantalum style can
be supplied in a modular format for
mechanical bolt-in mounting applica-
tions (see Figure 3).
High-Temperature Applications
Each tantalum capacitor technology
typemolded SMD, hermetic SMD,
and wet cylindrical (Figure 4)has
different capacitance and voltage
range availability, suiting them to dif-
ferent application areas. When the
ranges for these technologies overlap,
the cathode type, which also has a
major impact on frequency character- (a) (b)
istics, will help to determine the appli-
cations for which each technology is FIG 4 (a) The high-temperature tantalum capacitors in a hermetic package. (b) A wet
best suited. tantalum module. (Images courtesy of AVX Catalog and HiRel.)
In down-hole electronics, high
temperature is usually classified as
150 C and above. In the past, temperatures of 150175C temperatures approaching or exceeding 200 C to enable
were the maximum ratings typical for drilling operations, efficient designs. Several critical improvements to various
but the need to drill deeper and explore more hostile loca- properties of these capacitor technologiesincluding
tions has significantly increased this range. As such, com- capacitor designs, materials, configurations, and testing
ponents employed in todays wells must be capable of procedureshave effectively facilitated the growth of the
withstanding extreme temperatures exceeding 200 C high-temperature market and have enabled efficient,
at pressures greater than 25 klb/in 2 and coping with both high-performance electronic systems that operate reliably
continuous vibrations of 15 g and extreme shock spanning under these advanced environmental conditions. Now,
1002,000 g. designers have a range of reliable, high-temperature
Another major high-temperature market for pas- solutions to choose from and can take the unique perfor-
sive components is aerospace and defense electron- mance characteristics of each into consideration to select
ics. Going beyond the high-temperature requirements the appropriate capacitor for use in a particular high-
of automotive underhood (e.g., engine control, internal temperature and harsh-environment application, delivering
combustion engine sensing, and wide-bandgap elec- better performance than ever before.
tric vehicle) applications, avionics systems continue to
incorporate more sophisticated electronics to continu- About the Author
ously function as power, diagnostics, and communi- Chris Reynolds (chris.reynolds@avx.com)
________________ received his
cations systems across a wide temperature range. The B.Sc. degree in physics from Birmingham University, United
increased use of unmanned aerial vehicles for missions Kingdom. He is a technical marketing manager at AVX
in environments too harsh for manned aircrafts is also Corporation, where he has over 20 years of experience in
rapidly increasing the demand for defense systems, such component manufacturing and applications.
as radar, tactical electronics, weapons systems, and
space electronics. Due to the increased involvement of References
innovative electronics in these applications, the demand [1] R. Faltus and T. Zedncek. SMD tantalum capacitors break limit of
for components that can withstand temperatures out- 200degC for continuous operation. AVX. [Online]. Available: http://www
side of the current military and aerospace standard of .avx.com/docs/techinfo/Tantalum-NiobiumCapacitors/SMDTantals200C.pdf
55 to +125C is growing considerably. [2] T. Zedncek, Z. Sita, and S. Pala. Tantalum capacitors technology for
extended operating temperature range. AVX. [Online]. Available: http://
___
Summary and Considerations www.avx.com/docs/techinfo/Tantalum-NiobiumCapacitors/tantcapt.pdf
_____________________________________
There is a significant need for high-temperature capacitors [3] Texas Instruments. Drill temperature and pressure sensor. [Online]. Avail-
across various industries. Down-hole, aerospace, and auto- able: http://www.ti.com/solution/down_hole_drilling/
motive applications all require capacitors with operating
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Patent Reviews
by Art MacCord
Awards for Infringement

of Design Patents
M
ost of the time when we The jury found for Apple and facture, using the same words that the
talk about patents, we are required Samsung to pay Apple Congress used in determining the
talking about utility pat- US$399 million, based on its compu- profit to award to the owner of an
ents, which protect the structure or tation of the total profit that Samsung infringed design patent. The Supreme
function of a device. This column is had made from the infringing mod- Court cited a prior decision from 1980
about a different kind of patent, els. This award was affirmed by the about what can be protected by a
called a design patent. Court of Appeals, and Samsung design patent. That ruling was that
Design patents protect the orna- asked the Supreme Court to review when several articles of manufacture
mental appearance of an item. The the case. The Supreme Court handed of peculiar shape are combined to pro-
primary components of a design pat- down its decision 6 December 2016. duce a machine or structure having
ent are the drawings that show the The Supreme moveable parts, each
appearance of the item to be protect- Court focused on may be separately
ed. The few words that are involved the words article patented as a design.
Design patents are
in a design patent are simply to say of manufacture to The Supreme Court
that this is the front view, the side determine if it cov- issued by the U.S. also noted that de -
view, etc. Design patents are issued ered the entire Sam- Patent and Trademark sign patents on indi-
by the U.S. Patent and Trademark sung phone or just Office and provide vidual components
Office and provide a 14-year period the case that housed a 14-year period of a whole commer-
of exclusivity. Another interesting the electronics. The cial product have
of exclusivity.
aspect of design patents is that when court referred to the been allowed by the
they are infringed, the patent law dictionary and came U.S. Patent and Trade-
provides that a person who manu- up with a definition mark Office and the
factures or sells any article of man- of an article of manufacture as simply courts since at least 1898.
ufacture to which [a patented] a thing made by hand or machine. The The court noted that since less
design or colorable imitation has court concluded that a thing made by than the entire item being sold can be
been applied shall be liable to the hand or machine can be the entire an article of manufacture and suit-
owner to the extent of his total prof- saleable product, or it could be a sepa- able as the subject matter for a design
it. The meaning of this provision rable component of that product, rea- patent, applying the same interpreta-
was before the U.S. Supreme Court soning that a component of a product, tion to the phrase infringing article
recently in connection with a n no less than the whole product itself, of manufacture in determining prof-
appeal of a lawsuit filed by Apple, is a thing made by hand or machine. its, one concludes that the profit to be
Inc. against Samsung Electronics That a component may be integrated awarded is the profit attributable to
Co. Apple has several design patents into a larger product does not take it the patented component of the com-
on its iPhone, and said that several outside the category of an article mercial product that the infringer
Samsung models infringed some of of manufacture. sold (for example, the case of the
those design patents. The court pointed to the Congres- Samsung phone that triggered the
sional enactment that permits design infringement, not the entire phone).
patents in the first place. It says they Applying that analysis to the
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 can be obtained for articles of manu- appea ra nce of the iPhone a nd
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Samsungs infring- in connection with

ing phone, the court The court pointed to this ca se a nd to
said that the US$399 the Congressional determine the appro-
million was a num- priate number.
enactment that per-
ber arrived at from a While the Supre-
flawed analysis. The
mits design patents me Court has poten-
court did not com- in the first place. tially reduced the
pute a new number value of design pat-
because it declined ents, they are still
to set forth a more specific test to be quite valuable protection for articles of
used for identifying what the relevant manufacture in those cases where the
article of manufacture is as a compo- appearance of the article helps pro-
nent of the entire sold article. Since mote its saleability. That is, a design
the court did not come up with the patent is valuable when people buy the
test nor compute a new profits num- patented device at least in part because
ber, it remanded the case to the Court they think it is attractive.
of Appeals to consider the question of
what the article of manufacture was
_________
We engineer optimally designed

custom magnetics, while offering thousands
of part numbers standard, off the shelf.
We can help you nd one that meets your needs today.
and it can be on your desk, tomorrow.
Standard Products Custom Products
Power Current Sense Wall Plug In Power Supplies Switching Power Alternative Energy
Transformers Transformers Transformers & LED Drivers Supply Inductor
Audio Inductors Medical-Grade Medical-Grade Low- Power Supply Professional Audio

Transformers and Chokes Isolated Sources LeakageTransformers Precision Toroidal Impedance Matching
Transformer Transformer
Triad Magnetics
460 Harley Knox Blvd, Perris, CA 92571
Tel: 951.277.0757 Fax: 951.277.2757
Email: ____________
info@triadmagnetics.com www.triadmagnetics.com
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Expert View
by Alex Lidow
GaN-on-Silicon Power Devices:

How to Dislodge Silicon-Based
Power MOSFETs
G
allium nitride (GaN) power Efficient Power Conversion Corp. to make. However, if the actual com-
transistors designed for effi- GaN Systems ponent cost is lower than the compo-
cient power conversion have Dialog Semiconductor nent being replaced, the argument
been in production for seven years. Navitas Semiconductor changes. Instead of a design engineer
New markets, such as light detection Panasonic having to convince upper manage-
and ranging, envelope tracking, and Transphorm ment and purchasing of the benefits
wireless charging, have emerged due Texas Instruments of the new component, it becomes
to the superior switching speed of ON Semiconductor upper management and purchasing
GaN. These markets have enabled Sanken asking the design engineer why he/
GaN products to achieve significant VIS Technologies she has not yet converted. In May
volumes, low production costs, and Cambridge Electronics, Inc. 2015, the Efficient Power Conversion
an enviable reliability reputation. All It should be noted that GaN Sys- Corporations (EPCs) latest genera-
of this provides adequate incentive for tems, Dialog Semiconductor, and tion of product crossed over the
the more conservative design engineers Navitas Semiconductor all use a price curve with MOSFETs of similar
in applications such as dcdc convert- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufactur- voltage and on-resistance. There
ers, acdc converters, and automotive ing Company, Limited (TSMC)- were three main reasons for this
to start their evaluation process. So developed enhancement-mode pro- change: 1) volumes had reached the
what are the remaining barriers to the cess that is open to any fabless point where economies of scale
conversion of the US$12 billion silicon company wanting to enter this mar- kicked in, 2) GaN transistor die
power metaloxidesemiconductor ket. With all of these participants, sizes are three to five times smaller
field-effect transistor (MOSFET) mar- and with the backing of major com- than MOSFETs, and 3) EPCs eGaN
ket? In a word: confidence. panies such as Texas Instruments, transistors are in chip-scale format,
Design engineers, manufacturing Panasonic, ON Semiconductor, and which eliminates all the costs asso-
engineers, purchasing managers, and TSMC, the supply chain risk should ciated with packagingcosts that
senior management all need to be be minimal. are 50% or more of the costs of a sil-
confident that GaN will provide bene- icon MOSFET.
fits that more than offset the risk of Cost Risk The area efficiency of current GaN
adopting a new technology. Lets look Design engineers may delight in the transistors is more than 500 times
at three key risk factors: supply chain performance of a system using GaN lower than theoretically possible. It
risk, cost risk, and reliability risk. instead of a power MOSFET, but should therefore be expected that die
unless that system costs significantly sizes will continue to shrink, while
Supply Chain Risk less than its predecessor, there will performance increases and costs go
The list of companies selling GaN be resistance from purchasing down at each step.
power devices is growing almost departments and upper management.
monthly. As of this writing, the list Often component suppliers will Reliability Risk
included the following companies: make the argument that their costly There has been an enormous amount
product will save overall system of reliability testing performed on
costs. In my experience, this is a GaN devices from several manufac-
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 hard, but not impossible, argument turers, including EPC, GaN Systems,
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Panasonic, and Transphorm. It has in real-world applications, EPC has About the Author
been generally agreed upon that GaN tracked over 25 billion hours in cus- Alex Lidow (alex.lidow@epc-co.com)
_______________
devices can pass standard JEDEC tomer applications over four years received his B.S. degree from the Califor-
testing originally designed for sili- with only three device failures. This nia Institute of Technology, Pasadena, in
con-based power MOSFETs. The is a record unmatched by even the 1975 and his Ph.D. degree in applied
open question is whether these tests aging power MOSFET. physics as a Hertz Foundation Fellow
are adequate for GaN devices, given from Stanford University, California, in
the radically different material. Summary 1977. He was elected to the Engineering
Whereas we still have much to GaN-on-silicon has enabled many new Hall of Fame and received the 2015 SEMI
learn about all the failure mechanisms applications in the seven years since Award for North America for innovation
uniquely related to GaN technology, volume production began. These new in power device technology. He is the
there is a growing body of evidence applications have helped develop a chief executive officer (CEO) and
that suggests excellent reliability. strong supply chain, favorable cost cofounder of the Efficient Power Conver-
Moreover, EPCs eGaN transistors structure, and enviable reliability sion Corporation (EPC). Prior to found-
and integrated circuits with chip- record. Forward-thinking companies ing EPC, he was the CEO of the Interna-
scale packaging do not have any of are in various stages of adoption, tional Rectifier Corporation. A coinventor
the reliability failure mechanisms while more conservative companies of the HEXFET power metaloxide
attributable to traditional MOSFET are waiting to see more compelling semiconductor field-effect transistor
packaging. Power MOSFET produc- competitive reasons for conversion. In (MOSFET), he holds many patents in
ers know that the majority of field the long term, the performance and power semiconductor technology, includ-
failures are due to packaging-induced cost advantages of GaN-on-silicon will ing basic patents in power MOSFETs and
thermomechanical stresses or assem- result in a majority of applications gallium nitride (GaN) FETs. He coau-
bly problems. None of these mecha- currently using MOSFETs converting thored the first textbook on GaN tran-
nisms exist in chip-scale packages. to the smaller, faster, cheaper, and sistors, GaN Transistors for Efficient
As final evidence of basic reliability more reliable GaN technology. Power Conversion.
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Member and Industry Profile

by Fred C. Lee
Bruce C.H. Cheng: A Visionary

Entrepreneur Dedicated to Energy
Savings and Sustainability
F
or most of the past 45 years, switching power supply technology
Bruce C.H. Cheng (Figure 1), for the emerging computer and com-
the founder and honorary munication industries (Figure 2).
chair of Delta Group, has devoted his During the 1980s, Taiwans econom-
life and career to the development of ic miracle accelerated rapidly and
innovative technologies that realize transformed the island into the worlds
meaningful energy savings for our main manufacturing engine. However,
planet, to the fight against climate severe power shortages were com-
change, and to best practices for the monplace because of the governments
advancement of corporate social limitations in building capital-intensive
responsibility (CSR). Chengs forward- power plants to keep up with the
looking thinking, technological ex- demand, and these shortages inhibited
pertise, and relentless determination FIG 1 Bruce C.H. Cheng. (Photo courtesy the Taiwanese economys competitive-
have been the cornerstones of his of Delta Electronics, Inc.) ness. Furthermore, the overall fossil
success in creating Delta and trans- fuel-based power infrastructure was
forming it from a small, Taiwan- ny, Delta Electronics, Inc., for manu- deteriorating the environmental condi-
based components manufacturer into facturing mainly components for tele- tions in Taiwan. As a visionary leader,
a world-premier provider of power vision sets, such as ferrite coils and Cheng was inspired to think outside
supply solutions that feature indus- intermediate frequency transformers. the box for a meaningful, long-lasting
try-leading conversion efficiency and He then leveraged the accumulated solution to these national challenges,
power density. Meanwhile, he has expertise of his nascent company in which mirrored the global energy cri-
been passionate about dedicating the field of electromagnetic interfer- ses. Cheng thought that improving
resources to the protection of the ence filters and electromagnetic com- power processing and conversion effi-
environment, especially in terms of ponents to develop high-potential ciency would be far more effective
mitigating global warming. than building more fossil fuel-based
power plants. At the time, most elec-
A Visionary Entrepreneur trical equipment employed linear
Cheng received his B.S. degree in power supplies with efficiency below
electrical engineering in 1957 from 50%, and Cheng recognized that here
National Cheng Kung University, was a golden opportunity to create a
Tainan, Taiwan. After a short stint in new generation of high-efficiency
the private sector, where he held power supply technology as Deltas
management positions in engineer- business focus.
ing, production, and quality control at In the early 1980s, Cheng estab-
TRW, Inc. and Air Asia, Cheng decid- lished an engineering team, formerly
ed in 1971 to create his own compa- FIG 2 Delta ventured into the develop- employed by U.S.-based television
ment of switching power supply tech-
nology in the early 1980s, under the
manufacturer RCA, to boost his
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2016.2643338 leadership of Bruce Cheng. (Photo cour- firms drive into switching power
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 tesy of Delta Electronics, Inc.) supplies. In 1986, Delta became the
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Lodestone
Pacific LODESTONE PACIFIC
25
Years
Supporting a Diverse
Supply Chain with Facilities
in the USA, Hong Kong & China
worlds first power supplies company to adopt sur-
face-mount technology components for much-
improved product competitiveness. Collaboration for
Plastic Molding research and development (R&D)-based innovation
Bobbins with academic institutions in Taiwan and abroad,
Toroid Mounts
Through Hole & SMD such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Enclosures and Boxes and Virginia Polytechnic Institutes Center for Power
Custom Molded Shapes Electronics Systems, further cemented the success of
Precision Optical Lenses Deltas power supplies.
Toroid Mounts and Bobbins Cheng then conceived the companys corporate
Custom Metal Fabrication
Aluminum Die Casting mission as To provide innovative, clean, and energy-
Terminal Frames & Pins efficient solutions for a better tomorrow, which
Metal Injection Molds (MIM) became crucial in defining his companys destiny as a
Metal Stamping, CNC Cutting
world-class corporate citizen with a mandate far
Magnetic Core Materials beyond generating profits. Delta indeed focused on
Ferrite Cores leveraging its R&D-based innovation to challenge the
Iron Powder Cores barriers of energy conversion efficiency, which has
Tape Wound Cores helped fuel sustainable development through substan-
Alloy Powder Cores Magnetic Core Materials. tial energy savings, thus protecting the environment.
Shrink to Fit Tubing This corporate culture is fully integrated into the cor-
Transformer Insulation Tape
porations three major product categoriespower
Experienced electronics, energy management, and so-called smart
World Wide Logistics green life productswith the long-term vision of rein-
Product Development venting itself as a provider of branded systems and
CAD/CAM Capabilities
World Class Quality Systems total solutions based on its energy-saving technology.
China Production & Sourcing In addition to cultivating long-lasting relationships
Cost Effective Custom Tooling
Custom Plastic & Metal Fab. with academic institutions around the world, Delta
ZZZORGHVWRQHSDFLFFRPVDOHV#ORGHVWRQHSDFLFFRP
__________________ ____________________
built a global network of R&D centers to take advan-
tage of the core expertise of human capital in such
key regions as Research Triangle Park in Raleigh,
North Carolina, United States, and Shanghai, China.
Since 2000, Chengs corporation has run the Delta
Power Electronics Science and Technology Educa-
tional Development Program, which sponsors a series
of joint scientific research projects with first-tier aca-
demic institutions in China, including
Tsinghua University
Zhejiang University
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Xian Jiangtong University
Huazhong Institute of Technology
National Tsing Hua University
Shanghai University
Harbin Institute of Technology
Beijing Jiangtong University
Shanghai Jiangtong University
Hefei University of Technology
National Cheng Kung University.
Delta also launched the annual Delta Power Elec-
tronics Seminar in 2000 to serve as a platform for
technology exchange at the national level.
Making Delta a World-Class Company

The firms focus on innovation and manufacturing
excellence, both nurtured under Chengs leadership,
allowed Delta to establish itself in 2002 as the worlds
____________________________________
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leading provider of switching power

supplies for the information technolo-
gy (IT) industry. The companys inno-
vations in this area include the worlds
first server power supply certified as
80 Plus Titanium, boasting over 96%
energy efficiency (Figure 3). FIG 3 Deltas 80 Plus Titanium-certified
Deltas global leadership in high- server power supplies offer energy con- FIG 5 Deltas telecommunications
version efficiency of over 96%. (Photo power rectifiers, with a leading efficien-
efficiency power conversion also
courtesy of Delta Electronics, Inc.) cy of up to 98%, enable substantial
extends to other industry sectors, energy savings for global telecommuni-
such as photovoltaic (PV) inverters cations carriers. (Photo courtesy of
(Figure 4), with efficiencies up to Delta Electronics, Inc.)
98.8%, and rectifiers for telecommu-
nications applications (Figure 5), spectrum of thermal management
with efficiencies up to 98% and the solutions for IT, automotive applica-
best-in-class 56.8 W/in power density. tions, and residential and commer-
Delt as relent les s pu r su it of cial building ventilation.
excellence and extended manufac- Cheng, with his passion for technol-
turing presence in mainland China ogy and keen market sense, has been
have enabled it to surpass all its broadly regarded as a determined busi-
competitors in the field of thermal nessman who acts decisively when con-
management, and the company has FIG 4 Solar PV power plants around the fronted with new challenges. When
world benefit from Deltas PV inverters,
been the worlds top provider of dc which feature industry-leading efficiency
Delta experienced severe labor short-
brushless fans and blowers since of up to 98.8%. (Photo courtesy of Delta ages in Taiwan in the early 1990s,
2006. Today, Delta offers a broad Electronics, Inc.) the company responded by rapidly
___________
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expanding its manufacturing, R&D, and engineering

resources in mainland China. As a visionary profession-
FLEXIBLE BUS BAR al, Cheng understood that this cost advantage would
likely not last forever and thus guided Delta into the
field of industrial automation with the development of
its first ac motor drive in 1995. Thanks to a strong com-
mitment to R&D in this venture over the past two
decades, the firms newly launched six-axis articulat-
HYBRID OVERCURRENT ed robot arms have recently achieved an increase in
PROTECTIVE DEVICES productivity of up to 74% in certain production lines at
Deltas manufacturing hub in Wujiang, China (Figure 6).
Dedication to Sustainability
The corporate mission statement about providing
innovative, clean, and energy-efficient solutions is
P OW E R LIQUID COLD PLATE
being practiced in every area of the corporate busi-
M A N AG E M E N T HEAT SINKS
ness. Under Chengs leadership, Delta successfully
SOLUTIONS FOR reduced its factories electrical power consumption
E V/ H E V A N D (measured by electricity use per unit of product
B AT T E R Y- value) by 50% from 2009 to 2014. This remarkable
R E L AT E D accomplishment was achieved by continuously
A P P L I C AT I O N S DC FUSES improving the manufacturing efficiency in its major
factories. A new goal was set in 2015 to reduce power
consumption per unit of product value by an addition-
al 30% by 2020.
E P. M E R S E N .C O M
______________ Between 2010 and 2015, Deltas products and solu-
tions helped its global customers save more than
17.3billion kWh of electricity and prevented 9.2 million
tons of carbon emissions.
High tech,
A recent example of a renewable energy solution
is Deltas participation in the construction of one of
low risk
the worlds largest concentrated solar power plants,
located in Nevada, United States. Deltas solar track-
ing solution offers industry-leading performance and
pointing accuracy to help synchronize and manage
over 10,000 tracking mirrors, called heliostats (Fig-
ure 7). The heliostats reflect the suns thermal ener-
gy to a receiver tower, resulting in the generation of
more than 500 million kWh of electricity per year to
power 75,000 homes. This generation of clean,
From drive technology to the supply of

energy where raw power is in play, a
high margin of safety is essential..
Protect your investments, and those of your clients.
Protect your business. With us. The world over.
SIBA is active around the world and has eleven subsidiaries:
USA, China, Russia, UK, Denmark, Netherlands, Poland, FIG 6 Deltas robot arm solutions improve efficiency sig-
Austria, Czech Republic, South Africa and Singapore.
nificantly at its own production lines in mainland China.
(Photo courtesy of Delta Electronics, Inc.)
SIBA GmbH (Headquarters and Production)
')$")+) /
0&"&
Our Protection.

/---*#!"
_____ Your Benet.
&(,#)#"*#&(*#!"
______
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renewable electricity enables an

annual prevention of 280,000 tons of
carbon emissions.
As Deltas honorary chair, Cheng
continues to furnish his experience
and sage advice to the firms top
management in its resolute efforts to
position the company as a global lead-
er in emerging technologies that are
likely to change the way we live in
coming decades, such as gallium
nitride-based high-frequency power
electronics, electric vehicle (EV) charg-
ing, smart manufacturing, and energy FIG 7 Delta supplies solar tracking systems for SolarReserves Crescent Dunes Solar
Energy Project, Nevada, United States. (Photo courtesy of SolarReserve.)
storage. Delta has, in fact, become one
of the most trusted providers to the EV
industry by providing top-tier EV cloud-based factory management soft- Buildings consume more than
brands with award-winning on-board ware enables real-time remote control one-third of the worlds energy. In
chargers and dcdc converters and by of a wide range of manufacturing 2006, the firms first green building
developing dc and ac charging infra- processes to make smart manufactur- was erected in Tainan, Taiwan. It
structure with industry-leading effi- ing a reality. Deltas lithium-ion battery delivers more than 30% energy sav-
ciency, convenience, and site manage- energy storage technology will also ings annually by implementing the
ment systems. Comprehensive integra- add significant value to smart grids, as companys energy-saving technolo-
tion of the companys rich portfolio of it is a crucial tool in the optimization gies and green building design con-
industrial automation products and of energy usage. cepts. After that initial success,
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proposals from the competition as it

donated the design and materials
and helped construct the Delta Sun-
shine Elementary School at Yangia
Town and the Delta Sunshine Junior
High School in Longmen Township.
Another Delta project, which was
recognized and supported by the
FIG 8 Deltas new headquarters for the Americas region is a LEED Platinum-certified Qinghai province government, was
green building in Fremont, California, United States. (Photo courtesy of Delta dubbed The 24 Corridors Under the
Electronics, Inc.)
Riyue Mountain. It combined multi-
ple award-winning proposals into a
Cheng led Delta in an all-out effort to mentary School in Kaohsiung, Tai- showcase construction project that
extend the green building design wan, which the business donated fol- houses farmers in this remote west-
practice to all new construction of lowing the destruction of the original ern part of China.
the corporations manufacturing and facility by a typhoon. The building Under Chengs leadership, Delta
office buildings as well as to new integrates Deltas energy-saving tech- shared its dedication to corporate
buildings donated to various schools nologies. With the installation of responsibility, carbon reduction, and
and universities. To date, Delta has additional solar panels, this campus green buildings experience via the
helped build more than 20 green became a net-zero energy building. Delta21@COP21 exhibition at the
buildings around the world. Furthermore, the school building is 2015 UN Climate Change Conference
For example, the companys new designed to have the capability to (COP21) in Paris, France. During this
Americas headquarters (Figure 8), serve as a shelter for local residents event, Delta showcased the 20-plus
recently erected in Fremont, California, in the event of a natural disaster. green buildings it has built over the
utilizes a ground-source heat pump sys- Delta has worked with the China past decade and hosted forum dis-
tem for cooling and heating throughout Renewable Energy Society since cussions with U.N. members, govern-
the year, which helps reduce electricity 2006 to hold the annual Delta Cup ment author ities, sustainability
consumption by nearly 60%. This heat International Solar Building Design experts, and global leaders.
pump system, coupled with the 616-kW Competition. Over the pa st ten
solar PV system on the rooftop and years, the Delta Cup competition Social Responsibility
other energy-saving solutions devel- has gradually become a multifacet- Cheng established the Delta Electron-
oped by Delta, has helped this facility ed platform that leads the develop- ics Foundation in 1990 to enhance
obtain the Leadership in Energy and ment of Chinas green building and public awareness of the importance
Environmental Design Platinum green energy industries. For example, of environmental protection and cli-
building certification. after the devastating earthquakes in mate change mitigation through ener-
Other examples of recent green Sichuan, China, the Delta Founda- gy efficiency. The foundation hosts
buildings include the Namasia Ele- tion utilized the first-prize-winning activities such as environmental
Inductors Transformers
Your Special Application ...

Our Specialty!
("#++ +#& #' ,+(,#)&
'"(!(#!( ,#)& (&
"!" &%)&!"('
)'((815) 344-2900(#')''
,#)&$$ (#"(#,#&*'()'#" "
www.Lenco-Elect.com
Manufacturing Quality Magnetics since 1973

#+#'('!$ '-)()&"&#)"-) (#,#)&'$
-

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exhibitions, films, speeches, and workshops and

invites green building experts worldwide to visit Tai-
wan to conduct promotional activities, such as semi-
nars and training courses for green building design.
The foundation also sponsors school activities to
teach students energy-saving habits and to help pro-
duce energy savings teaching materials.
Recognition of Deltas CSR efforts includes its
inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for
the past six years. In 2014, Chengs company was
ranked by CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure
Project) as having achieved the highest level on its
Climate Performance Leadership Index (CPLI) and
was the only company from nearly 2,000 listed in
Greater China that made it to the CPLI list. Delta has
received CSR Champion Awards in two categories
for four consecutive years (20132016) from Global
Views Magazine, one of the most influential publi-
cations in Taiwan. Another Taiwanese publication,
Common Wealth Magazine, has honored Delta with
its CSR Award every year from 2007 to 2016, another
indication that the firm is one of the most prominent
corporate citizens in the country. Other prestigious
awards include the 2015 ChannelNews Asia Green
Luminary Award, China Business News Outstanding
Enterprise Award for CSR (20122014), and the Glob-
Power-Safe
al Top 100 Low-Carbon Pioneer award conferred by
CNBCs European Business magazine in 2008.
Additionally, some respected Taiwanese media
NC-SMQ 75
stakeholders, such as the Economic Daily News news-
paper, have dubbed Cheng as Taiwans first chief envi-
Die-Attach Solder Paste
ronmental officer for his commitment and leadership + Power-Safe (no-clean) in
to environmental conservation. He has also received clip-bond applications
numerous honors and awards for his business achieve-
ments and environmentalism. These include + '& '$#
2006: The Chinese Management Association pre-
sented Cheng with its highest management award.
(<5x5mm)
2008: Cheng received the Pan Wen Yuan Prize, the + & "$ "
highest award in Taiwans technology industry.
2008: The International Astronomical Union named
*%( $$'$ &"
the newly discovered Asteroid 168126 Chengbruce compound
to honor Chengs pursuit of environmental sustain-
ability and green citizenship.
+$" '"#%
2010: Cheng was honored as Ernst & Youngs 2010 (<0.5% w/w of paste)
Entrepreneur of the Year and CSR Entrepreneur.
2011: Cheng received the Distinguished Accom- Contact our technical engineers today:
plishment Award from the Chinese Professional techsupport@indium.com
___________________
Management Association.
2013: The Industrial Technology Research Institute Learn more:
(ITRI) presented Cheng with the ITRI Laureate www.indium.com/NCSMQ75/IEEE
Award.
2015: Global Views Magazine honored Cheng with
its first CSR Lifetime Achievement Award.
2016: Cheng was awarded the Order of the Bril-
liant Star with Grand Cordon by the president
of the Republic of China in recognition of his
2017 Indium Corporation
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outstanding contributions to tech- schools to universities in China and About the Author
nology and the industrial develop- Taiwan and to broaden environmen- Fred C. Lee (f_________
clee@vt.edu) is an
ment of Taiwan. tal education through donating actual IEEE Fellow and a University Distin-
In addition, Cheng has received green buildings and various activities guished Professor at Virginia Poly-
honorary doctorates from several related to energy conservation and technic Institute. He is the founder
academic institutions for his commit- green buildings. For example, in 2015, and director of the institutes Center
ment to environmental protection Delta and its foundation contributed for Power Electronics Systems, a pre-
and for his achievements in the close to NT$300 million (approxi- eminent academic center in power
power industry, including from mately US$10 million) to social partic- electronics research. He is a member
National TsingHua University ipation programs, including Delta- of the U.S. National Academy of Engi-
National Central University MOOCx, a massive open online neering, an academician in Taiwans
National Cheng Kung University course platform, the Delta21@COP21 Academia Sinica, and a foreign mem-
National Taiwan University of Sci- green building advocacy campaign, ber of the Chinese Academy of Engi-
ence and Technology the Delta Scholar Program on Envi- neering, China. He holds 80 U.S. pat-
National Taipei University of Tech- ronmental Law, and green building ents and has published more than 293
nology restoration of the school history hall journal articles and more than 712 ref-
National Chiao Tung University for National Taichung First Senior ereed technical papers. His research
Asia University High School. interests include high-frequency
City University of Hong Kong As a chief executive officer, Cheng power conversion, magnetics and
Taipei Medical University. has not only taken Delta from a electromagnetic interference, distrib-
Aside from his avid and passionate small, Taiwan-based company to be uted power systems, renewable ener-
environmentalism, Cheng is most im- the world-leading power supplies pro- gy, power quality, high-density elec-
portantly a philanthropist who, since vider but has also taken Delta to the tronics packaging and integration,
1990, established charitable organiza- highest level of social responsibility and modeling and control. He is a
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Society News
by Tom Keim
APEC Discloses the Latest Trends

and Concerns in Power Electronics
T
he 32nd annual IEEE Ap-
plied Power Electronics Con-
ference and Exhibition
(APEC) will be held 2630 March
2017 at the Tampa Convention Cen-
ter in Florida (Figure 1). For most of
these 32 years, APEC existed and
prospered in parallel with a similar
conference series called the IEEE
Power Electronics Specialists Con-
ference (PESC). While there are many
similarities among technical confer-
ences for engineers, there are also
differences. Sometimes, the differ-
FIG 1 The Tampa Convention Center in Florida.
ences are small and hard to discern.
But in the case of APEC and PESC,
the distinction was clear. cosponsorship and active participation year-over-year growth is unlikely to be
The distinguishing feature of APEC by the Power Sources Manufacturers matched, both the program and the
was, and still is, the extent to which the Association (PSMA), whose practical conference venue are appropriate to
focus of the conference series is placed orientation is indicated by its name an attendance this large. The exhibi-
on applications of the technology. Of and backed by its actions. Addition- tion will occupy over an acre (over
course, the first word in the name an- ally, the conference also provides in- 0.4 hectare) and will feature 240 ex-
ticipates this emphasis, but the confer- dustry sessions, an uncommon feature hibitors. Attendees can additionally
ence is uncommonly true to its intent. for a technical conference, which are choose from 18 seminars, 64 lecture
What makes the conference unusual is described later. sessions with 311 scheduled lectures,
the way in which practical near-term This formula has been remarkably and 32 industry sessions covering
technology is featured. Laboratory de- successful. In 2016, APEC set records 124presentations.
velopments and academic research still in attendance, in the number of papers Long-running features of this con-
hold ample significance, but, to a greater submitted, and in the number of pa- ference are a micromouse contest
extent than is often the case, the focus is pers accepted. The attendance total (claimed to be the only one in North
on technology that is used in commer- was 5,369 registrants, up by a remark- America) and the Rap Program. The
cial products. The conference is more able 33% over the previous conference. Rap Program features three contro-
about industry and less about research. The 2017 APEC conference is on a versial topics being discussed in three
The applied flavor of this confer- course to rival the 2016 conference separate rooms simultaneously. The
ence is evidenced by the long-term in success. In 2017, 593 papers were topics include:
accepted from 1,198 digests submitted Power Electronic Architectures:
for consideration, compared to 563 Do We Need More or Have All the
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 from 1,211 the prior year. While 2016s Topologies Invented?
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Do We Need to Progress Toward rate starting times, Sunday morning, smart, high-efficiency power manage-
GHz Switching in High-Power Sys- Sunday afternoon, and Monday morn- ment is outpacing the average growth
tems and Applications? ing; so a motivated participant could rate of the semiconductor industry. It
3D Printing and Power Supply on attend three separate seminars. ends with the promise: This talk exam-
Chip/Power Supply in Package ver- The afternoon of Monday, 27 ines the state of semiconductor power
sus Discrete Designs. March, will be devoted to a plenary technology from multiple perspectives,
Sunday, 26 March, will be devoted to session with speakers who have been including materials, devices, and sys-
seminars. In other settings, these selected by invitation. The first sched- tems, and provides some predictions
presentations might uled speaker will be for how the world of power electronics
be called tutorials. Ahmad Bahai, who may evolve over the coming years.
Each seminar will be is the chief technolo- The second plenary speaker will
Attendees can addi-
about four hours long gist and a senior vice be Conor Quinn of Artesyn Embed-
and cover a relatively tionally choose from president of Texas In- ded Technologies. Quinn is also co-
narrow technical sub- 18 seminars, 64 lecture struments (TI) as well chair of the group developing a power
ject. The presenters sessions with 311 as the director of TI technology road map for PMSA. His
will be recognized scheduled lectures, Corporate Research, presentation will be Empowering the
experts in the subject and 32 industry Kilby Labs. The title Electronics Industry: A Power Technol-
matter. These are of his talk will be ogy Road Map. Following Quinn
sessions covering
opportunities to learn Power Semiconduc- will be Vatch Vorprian, a principal en-
from the greats. Sem- 124 presentations. tor Technology gineer at the famous NASA Jet Propul-
inars will continue on Flexibility for To- sion Laboratory, who is also a Fellow of
Monday morning, 27 morrows Solutions. the IEEE. His presentation will be A
March. There will be six seminars pre- The abstract for this talk begins with Historical Perspective on the Develop-
sented at any one time and three sepa- the observation that The demand for ment of the PWM Switch Model.
___________________________________
__________________
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Next will be a presentation titled Google

48V Power Architecture, about the power elec-
tronics systems in data centers, a large and rap-
idly growing market for power electronics. The
presenters will be Xin Li and Shuai Jiang, who
are, respectively, a technical lead manager and
a senior dcdc power architect at Google. The
abstract of this presentation reads, in part, The
global-data center/cloud-power market is explod-
ing at over 10% annually to an estimation of 2tril-
lion kWh by 2020. Efficient power delivery from
the utility to the point of load could result in an
astronomical amount of energy and expenditure
savings. Todays data center payloads generally use
traditional 12 V for subrack power distributions,
but the exponentially increased distribution loss-
es jeopardize efficiency and scalability as power
grows rapidly. Google has deployed a compelling
48-V rack ecosystem in its data centers for several
years, which promised to provide better efficiency,
performance, and scalability for more power-hun-
gry computing systems enabled by high-end CPUs,
accelerators, and ASICs.
Next will be Hamish Laird, the founder and the
chief technology officer of ELMG Digital Power,
Inc., who will come to the conference from New
Zealand. His subject will be The Gap Between
High-Power and Low-Power Converters and How
It Is Closing. Lairds synopsis says, in part, Large
power converters have in the past had different
ITG
constraints to small power converters. The first is
that large converters have a lower surface area to
volume ratio. The second is that the capitalized cost
of the lifetime power losses dominates the total
cost of ownership. The third constraint is that the
large converter control is necessarily constrained
by the grid that it is connected to. Looking at the
differences between the high-power area and low-
power area, there are now big leaps in efficiency
that have brought the two together in terms of the
problems that are being encountered. There are
now grid or other converter interaction issues,
low-control-margin converters, and large-convert-
er-like behavior changes with operating points at
power levels as low as 500 W. To manage these is-
sues, techniques from the high-power converter
space are now useful and necessary.
The final plenary speaker is scheduled to be
Ljubisa Stevanovic, of General Electric Global
Research, where he is chief technology officer
of silicon carbide works. The title of his presen-
tation will be From SiC MOSFET Devices to
MW-Scale Power Converters. This excellent af-
ternoon of presentations was organized by Ernie
Parker, director of engineering at Crane Aero-
space and Electronics.
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Call for Papers

The 12th IEEE International Conference
on Power Electronics and Drive Systems
The 12th IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics and Drive Systems
(PEDS 2017) will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA on 1215 December 2017. The confer-
ence is a biennial event and is recognized as one of the major series of conferences in
power electronics and drive systems. PEDS 2017 continues to retain its tradition of high
quality conference and will open up an opportunity for academics and industrial profession-
als worldwide to exchange their knowledge of the state-of-the-art power electronics and
drive technologies and applications. The 4-day program will feature tutorials and technical
paper presentations. Papers presented in conference will be submitted to the IEEEXplore
Digital Library and indexed by EI Compendex.
Prospective authors are invited to submit an extended summary in single column text font
size 11pt of no more than 3 pages including figures. The submission must clearly state: the
purpose of the work; the manner and degree to which it advances the art; and specific new
results that have been obtained and their significance.
Authors Schedule
Prospective authors should note the following deadlines. Please mark these dates in your
calendar.
t %JHFTU4VCNJTTJPO%FBEMJOF30 March 2017

t /PUJGJDBUJPOPG1BQFS"DDFQUBODF30 May 2017
t 'JOBMQBQFSTVCNJTTJPOEFBEMJOF15 July 2017
Conference website: http://www.ieee-peds.org
Conference facebook URL: http://www.facebook.com/peds.conferences
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On Tuesday, 28 March, technical inclusion of knowledgeable individu- conference will resume at full force on
lecture presentations will fill three als who may not have the resources to Thursday, 30 March, with five hours
hours. Each presentation will be based participate in the more formal digest and 20 min of both technical lectures
on a publication-quality paper, se- submittal and review process. The ex- and industry presentations, with eight
lected by merit from digests received hibition will open at noon on Tuesday, and four parallel tracks, respectively.
in response to a call for papers. Each and the afternoon will be devoted to Additionally, a very large (292 contri-
paper will be allocated 20 min total the exhibition and to four 30-min ex- butions) poster presentation session is
for presentation and hibitor seminars. scheduled for 90 min.
discussion, and there Wednesday the Now in its 12th year, the joint spon-
will be eight parallel A technical tour was 29th will be a busier sors of APEC have announced the
sessions. Concur- version of Tuesday, continuation of the popular Student
conducted for all
rently, an additional with four hours and Attendance Travel Support Program.
the participants on
four parallel sessions 40 min of technical As a result, approximately 40 students
will be devoted to the last day of the lecture presenta- from around the world, including 13
industry presenta- conference. tions. As on Tuesday, from the United States, have been se-
tions. These sessions there will be eight lected for this program.
will be presentations parallel technical Overall, the program is broad
by invited presenters, predominantly lecture tracks. Likewise, there will be and ambitious. Any technical person
from industry, with a substantially four parallel industry presentation ses- with an interest in power electronics
less rigorous manuscript requirement. sions, running simultaneously with the should be able to find ample opportu-
They encourage discussions of imme- technical sessions. The exhibition will nity to keep him- or herself produc-
diate-term concerns and topics and the close on Wednesday, but the technical tively engaged.
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The Joint IEEE IAS/PELS Singapore

ChapterOrganizes the
2016 IEEE ICSET in Hanoi
T
he IEEE International Con- fourth ICSET conference was held IEEE Transactions on Industry
ference on Sustainable Ener- at Meli Hanoi in Hanoi, the capital Applications with the possibility
gy Technologies (ICSET) is a of Vietnam, 1416 November 2016. ofpublication.
regular series of international bien- The conference was jointly spon- In the opening ceremony, the key-
nial conferences that bring together sored by the joint IEEE Industry note speech, Next-Generation Math-
professionals and executives in the Applications Society/Power Elec- ematical Tools for Smart and Resilient
energy sector, electrical power com- tronics Society (IAS/PELS) Singa- Grids, was delivered by Prof. Konstan-
panies, manufacturing industries, pore Chapter and the IEEE Vietnam tin Turitsyn of the Massachusetts In-
research institutes, and educational Section. More than 120 papers were stitute of Technology (MIT) (Figure 1).
groups to share and exchange ideas submitted, out of which 75 were pre- The talk focused on various barriers
and information pertaining to sus- sented at the conference in 12 tech- related to the integration of renewable
tainable energy technologies. The nical sessions. The Technical Pro- energy sources to the existing grid
gram Committee now plans to select and the importance of modern optimi-
the top 510% of the papers present- zation and control tools to overcome
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 ed, which will be forwarded to these barriers.
Following the keynote speech,
there were three semiplenary talks
given by three IEEE Fellows. While
CWT wide-band Prof. Hsiao-Dong Chiang from Cornell
University, New York, gave the talk A
AC current probes
Smart Transmission System and Its
5 Thin, flexible, clip-around Application, Prof. Longya Xu from
ac current probes The Ohio State University presented
5 Wide-band from below 0.01Hz Dynamics and Advanced Control of
to greater than 20MHz (-3dB)
DFIG Wind Turbines Under Low-Volt-
5 Ideal for power electronics CWT Standard
development work age-Ride-Through (LVRT) Condition.
5)/-.)$&-
5 Current ratings 30A in lengths from Prof. P.R. Kumar from Texas A&M Uni-
to 600kA 300mm to > 1m versity gave the talk Towards a Sys-
CWT 5(-/&.$)(0)&." tem Theory for the Integration of Re-
Ultra- 10kV peak (coil
thickness 8.5mm) newables. There were also ten invited
mini
papers, written by well-known authors
CWT CWT LF
from universities around the world.
Mini Based on the reviewers comments
5)$&-$4 as well as the Technical Program
'2 ''
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Committees evaluation, three pa-
5 1)'$($./, )$& 52. ( &)1
sizes (3.5mm or
80mm length !, +/ (3/.)!! pers were selected for awards. These
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200mm length 1.2kV peak -.(,),'$($ 1) GIS Integrated Automation of a
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and Sanjib Kumar Panda from the
Power Electronic Measurements
National University of Singapore
North American Distribution & Support
www.gmw.com ________
sales@gmw.com and Gehan Amaratunga from
+1-650-802-8292 www.pemuk.com the University of Cambridge,
United Kingdom
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FIG 2 The conference was attended by more than 100 research-

FIG 1 The keynote speech delivered by Prof. Konstantin Turit- ers and engineers from the region. Cultural activities were per-
syn, MIT. formed by the local troupe during the banquet.
2) Robust Stability Assessment of Apart from these, 12 best presenta- guests of honor and attendees from
Renewable Power Grids, by Thanh tion awards were presented to the au- the Science and Engineering Research
Long Vu and Konstantin Turitsyn thors, one for each technical session. Council, Government of Vietnam, in-
from MIT A technical tour was conducted stitutes of higher learnings in Vietnam,
3) Bidding Strategy for Virtual for all the participants on the last day and local industries. Prof. Sanjib Kumar
Power Plant with Intraday Demand of the conference. It included a visit to Panda from the National University of
Response Exchange Market Using the Vietnam Electrical Equipment Joint Singapore, the organizing chair of the
Stochastic Programming, by Hieu Stock Corporation (Gelex), which is a conference, remarked, We have gone
Trung Nguyen and Long Le from producer of electrical equipment, such a long way to organize such a success-
the National Institute of Scien- as transformers, pumps, circuit break- ful conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. We
tific Research: Energy, Materials, ers, and energy meters. It is a local firm would like to thank the organizing com-
and Telecommunications (INRS- located just on the outskirts of Hanoi. mittee members and all of the attendees
EMT), University of Quebec, Mon- The conference saw more than 100 for their contributions and participa-
tral, Canada. attendees (Figure 2), including the tionsee you at ICSET 2018!
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by Fang Luo, Robert Kaplar, and Alan Mantooth
WiPDA Focuses on Device

Development and Applications
T
he fourth IEEE Workshop on harsh environments (e.g., high tem- Razorback Stadium! The banquet also
Wide-Bandgap Power Devices perature) operation and reliability included the workshops poster ses-
and Applications (WiPDA) was packaging, power modules, and ICs sion. The university lab tours included
held 79 November 2016 in Fayette- hard-switched and soft-switched UAs High-Density Electronics Center,
ville, Arkansas (Figure 1). WiPDA is a application analysis its wide-bandgap power packaging
fast-growing yearly event with a focus gate drive and other auxiliary facilities, and the National Center for
on wide-bandgap device development, circuits Reliable Electric Power Transmission,
applications of wide-bandgap power high-performance passive com- which is a 6-MVA/15-kV test facility.
devices, and related topics. The work- ponents Further, IEEEs International Technol-
shop provides a forum for device scien- applications in renewable energy and ogy Roadmap for Wide-Bandgap Semi-
tists, circuit designers, and application energy storage, transportation, indus- conductors Working Group met at the
engineers from the IEEE Power Elec- trial drives, and grid power systems workshop, as did the Joint Electron
tronics and Electron Devices Societies wide-bandgap system design philos- Devices Engineering Councils working
to share technology updates, research ophies and strategies. group on gallium-nitride (GaN) power
findings, development experience, and The number of WiPDA attendees device reliability to leverage the knowl-
ideas for novel applications. The topics has grown quickly over the last four edge of the workshop attendees.
of interest at WiPDA included years, with participants coming from
heteroepitaxial and bulk-materials multiple disciplines, including mate- Keynote Talks and
growth rials science, device fabrication, and Technical Sessions
gate dielectrics and surface pas- device application. There were 200 WiPDA has gained strong support
sivation participants in the workshop this year, from government agencies, academic
device structures and fabrication including 105 from industry and 95 institutions, and industry-leading com-
techniques from academia or other research insti- panies, both nationally and interna-
device characterization and modeling tutions. Of the 200 attendees, 165 were tionally. This years workshop featured
very high efficiency and compact domestic and 35 were international. keynote speakers from Wolfspeed,
converters WiPDA 2016 maintained the ar- Ford, the Electric Power Research In-
safe operating areas of wide-band- rangement from previous years and stitute, Sandia National Laboratories,
gap devices, including short cir- included tutorials, keynote sessions, PowerAmerica, GaN Systems, Massa-
cuit, spike, and transient tolerance university lab tours, a panel discus- chusetts Institute of Technology, Navi-
sion, a series of technical sessions, an tas, Eta-One, and Lockheed-Martin.
exhibition, and, of course, a banquet The speakers shared their views from
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 at the University of Arkansas (UA) different perspectives as the device
FIG 1 WiPDA 2016 was held in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Photo courtesy of Alan Mantooth.)
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manufacturer, the characterization, and the supply chain and manufacturing

equipment designer, The number of WiPDA applications of wide- of wide-bandgap devices as well as
the researcher, and attendees has grown bandgap devices. their adoption by the power electron-
the system integra- Speakers from Mon- ics community.
quickly over the last
tor. The technical olith Semiconductor,
program consisted
four years, with Infineon, and Gener- Student Travel Grants
of three parallel attendees coming al Electric shared Also this year, WiPDA provided travel
tracks of talks cover- from multiple their knowledge con- grants of US$625 per awardee to
ing topics ranging disciplines. cerning the develop- encourage student participation.
from the physics of ment of both SiC and Sixteen students received these
wide-bandgap mate- GaN device applica- awards out of a total of 60 student
rials and devices, tions, reliability con- participants. All presented papers will
through wide-bandgap power modules siderations, and qualification, and be included in the conference pro-
and circuits, to large-scale applica- engineers from Keysight covered tech- ceedings and submitted to IEEE
tions of such circuits. niques and tips related to the accurate Xplore. WiPDA 2017 will be hosted by
measurement of wide-bandgap power Sandia National Laboratories in Albu-
Tutorial Sessions and devices and efficiency improvement of querque, New Mexico. We look for-
Panel Discussion power circuits built from such devices. ward to your participation at next
There were two tutorial tracks encom- The panel discussion featured experts years exciting event!
passing four topics: silicon carbide from industry, academia, and govern-
(SiC) devices, GaN devices, device ment and addressed topics related to
International Exhibition and Conference

for Power Electronics, Intelligent Motion,
Renewable Energy and Energy Management
Nuremberg, 16 18 May 2017
share the moment!
ticket at
Get your free t
im -e ur op e. com/momen
pc de
tion co
Your registra
MI
1712323293PE
Information: Follow us
+49 711 61946-820
pcim@mesago.com
_________
#pcimeurope
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Member News
Congratulations to
Newly Elected IEEE Fellows
T
he grade of IEEE Fellow is eras, Sweden, lennart.harnefors@
______________
the highest grade of Institute The IEEE Power Electronics se.abb.com.
membership, conferred only Society congratulates the
by election by the Board of Direc- Laszlo Huber
following members who
tors. Candidates must be Senior For contributions to ac-dc power con-
Members with at least five years of
were recognized with verters for portable electronics equip-
IEEE membership. The nominator is the grade of Fellow as ment. Contact information: Delta
responsible for the preparation of of 1 January 2017. Products Corporation, Research Trian-
the formal nomination form; identi- gle Park, North Carolina, United
fication of five to eight IEEE Fel- States, lhuber@delta-corp.com.
_______________
lows, capable of assessing the can- Terry Ericsen
didates contributions, who agree to For leadership in power electronics. Juri Jatskevich
serve as references; and identifica- Contact information: Ericsen Innova- For contributions to modeling of
tion of the IEEE Society or Council tions LLC, Annapolis, Maryland, Unit- electric machines and switching
whose evaluating committee will ed States, tericsen@comcast.net.
______________ converters. Contact information: Uni-
assess the candidates technical versity of British Columbia, Vancouver,
qualifications and contributions. All Michael Gard Canada, jurij@ece.ubc.ca.
__________
material is sent to the Fellows Com- For contributions to instrumentation-
mittee, which must review all nomi- and-measurement technology for Sang Bin Lee
nations and assessments and pre- petroleum exploration, computed For contributions to offline testing
pare a ranked list. The total number tomography, and underground con- and online condition monitoring
of Fellow recommendations each struction. Contact information: The for ac electric machines. Contact
year cannot exceed 0.1% of IEEE Charles Machine Works, Perry, Oklaho- i n for mat ion: Korea Un iver sit y,
membership, exclusive of students ma, United States, c-18chair@ieee.org.
____________ Seoul, South Korea, _________
sangbinlee@
and associates. korea.ac.kr.
_______
Bhuvaneswari Gurumoorthy
IEEE Power Electronics For contributions to design and de- Faa-Jeng Lin
Society Members Elevated velopment of enhanced power quality For contributions to intelligent
to Fellow in 2017 converters. Contact information: Indi- control systems for motor drives
The IEEE Power Electronics Society an Institute of Technology Delhi, New and motion control. Contact infor-
congratulates the following members _____________ .
Delhi, India, bhuvan@ee.iitd.ac.in mation: National Central University,
who were recognized with the grade Taoyuan City, Taiwan, ________
linfj@ee.ncu
of Fellow as of 1 January 2017. Lennart Harnefors .edu.tw.
_____
For contributions to control and
dynamic analysis of power electron- Josep Pou
ic systems. Contact information: For contributions to multilevel
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 A BB Cor porate Resea rch, Va st- converters and renewable energy
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conversion. Contact information: Dianguo Xu

Nanyang Technical University, Singa- For contribution to control of electrical
pore, _____________
josep.pou@upc.edu.
The grade of IEEE Fellow is drives and power electronic convert-
the highest grade of Insti- ers. Contact information: Harbin
Toshihisa Shimizu tute membership, conferred Institute of Technology, China, ______
xudiang@
For development of reliable power con- only by election by the hit.edu.cn.
______
verters for industrial and renewable Board of Directors.
energy applications. Contact Informa- Qing-Chang Zhong
tion: Tokyo Metropolitan University, For contributions to power electronic
Japan, _____________
shimizut@tmu.ac.jp. systems control. Contact information:
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chica-
Edson Watanabe tioning. Contact information: COPPE, go, United States, ___________
zhongqc@ieee.org.
For contributions to the application Federal University of Rio de Janeiro,
of power electronics for power condi- Brazil, watanabe@coe.ufrj.br.
______________
Presidents Message (continued from page 8)
on this topic that I have chaired up to As more power electronics begin

this point. In summary, our ongoing to move into the electric power grid
activities are moving in positive direc- One of the areas where and power electronics become
tions. So where do we go from here? I would like to see further more interconnected through the
activity is in member Internet of Things, it becomes more
Future Activities development. important for professionals in power
As I mentioned previously, I have to be electronics to have an appreciation
mindful of the large array of current of best practices and approaches for
activities as we plan for expansion into cyberhard by design methods. As
new initiatives for 2017 and 2018. We the current chair for the Ad Hoc
must provide the resources and volun- bers of all ages with an opportunity to Committee on Cybersecurity for
teers for our current commitments to grow through activities in which they Power Electronics, I am interested in
succeed. The new initiatives from 2016 engage at the Society level. Some helping define those activities in
are still in their formative stages, aspects of this Mentorship Program which our Society should be engaged.
so their success is dependent on will include: Transportation systems and critical
consistent, steadfast support. mentor-mentee matching infrastructure that depend on intelli-
By the time this article is pub- events to facilitate mentoring at gent control and communications
lished, the 20172018 Society offi- PELS conferences are areas where power electronics
cers will have met to discuss the soft-skill support such as negotia- professionals need to learn how to
upcoming agenda of PELS. This will tion skills design in cybersecurity to minimize
involve an across-the-board eval- entrepreneurship activities. vulnerabilities.
uation of our activities to see what Through these activities, members of Working together with the officers,
each area needs in terms of resourc- all walks could receive advice on top- TC chairs, and other volunteers, there
es and what is required for volun- ics most relevant to their career devel- will most certainly be additional ini-
teers to be successful in their ongo- opment, become more connected to tiatives that we plan and execute over
ing and new efforts. other Society members, and perhaps the next two years. Please know that I
One of the areas where I would find ways to drive their involvement in am always listening to your sugges-
like to see further activity is in mem- the Society. More details of the Men- tions, and I look forward to serving
ber development. PELS will begin a torship Program will be described in the Society in the capacity of presi-
Mentorship Program to provide mem- the coming months. dent for the next two years.
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Event Calendar
2017 2426 July

Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
2630 March
IEEE International Future Energy Challenge (IFEC)
Tampa, Florida, United States
IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC) 1517 August
Washington, D.C., United States
57 April
IEEE Electric Ship Technologies Symposium (ESTS)
Delft, The Netherlands
IEEE International Workshop on Integrated Power 29 August1 September
Packaging (IWIPP) Tinos, Greece
IEEE 11th International Symposium on Diagnostics for
1720 April
Electrical Machines, Power Electronics, and Drives (SDEMPED)
Florianopolis, Brazil
IEEE Eighth International Symposium on Power Electronics 46 September
for Distributed Generation Systems (PEDG) Pilsen, Czech Republic
IEEE International Symposium on Predictive Control of
2122 May
Electrical Drives and Power Electronics (PRECEDE)
Chongqing, China
IEEE PELS Workshop on Emerging Technologies: 1114 September
Wireless Power Transfer (WoW) Warsaw, Poland
19th European Conference on Power Electronics and
2124 May
Applications (EPE17 ECCE Europe)
Miami, Florida, United States
IEEE International Electric Machines and Drives 15 October
Conference (IEMDC) Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE)
28 May1 June
Sapporo, Japan 1921 October
29th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Novi Sad, Serbia
Devices and ICs (ISPSD) International Symposium on Power Electronics (Ee 2017)
47 June 2226 October
Kaohsiung, Taiwan Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia
IEEE Third International Future Energy Electronics Conference IEEE International Telecommunications Energy
and ECCE Asia (IFEEC 2017ECCE Asia) Conference (INTELEC)
2224 June 1922 November
Chicago, Illinois, United States Juiz de Fora, Brazil
IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo (ITEC) Brazilian Power Electronics Conference (COBEP)
2729 June 47 December
Nuremberg, Germany Puerto Vara, Chile
IEEE Second International Conference on DC Microgrids (ICDCM) IEEE Southern Power Electronics Conference (SPEC)
912 July
Stanford, California, United States 2018
IEEE 18th Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power
Electronics (COMPEL)
48 March
San Antonio, Texas, United States
IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC)
Date of publication: 7 March 2017
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IEEE Power Electronics Society Awards

Call for Nominations
Deadline March 31, 2017
The IEEE Power Electronics Society (IEEE PELS) Awards Committee is seeking nominations for 2017
Awards and other recognitions Do you know a member that should be recognized for outstanding work
in the Power Electronics Field? The requirements for submission are easy to follow. Award recipients will be
highly recognized for their contributions! Dont delay! Submit your nominations as soon as possible.
Here are the awards for which we are seeking nominations by 31 March 2017:
IEEE PELS R. DAVID MIDDLEBROOK ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

For an outstanding contribution in the technical field of power electronics A bronze medal,
a certificate and an honorarium of $5,000. Complimentary registration for the conference to
accept the award, paid for by PELS upon request
RICHARD M. BASS OUTSTANDING YOUNG POWER ELECTRONICS ENGINEER AWARD

For outstanding achievement in the field of power electronics by an engineer less than 35
years of age 1,500USD, a Certificate, and upon request reimbursement for transportation
expenses up to 500USD to attend the annual PELS Awards Banquet
IEEE PELS HARRY A. OWEN, JR. DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD

To honor long and distinguished service to the welfare of the Power Electronics Society at an
exceptional level. The prize consists of an engraved plaque and a cash award of 3,500USD,
and upon request reimbursement for transportation expenses up to 500USD to attend the
annual PELS award banquet.
IEEE JOSEPH JOHN SUOZZI INTELEC FELLOWSHIP AWARD IN POWER ELECTRONICS

For an electrical engineering graduate student studying in an area of power electronics that
powers information and communication technology systems. Prize includes a fellowship
award certificate and a one-time honorarium of 15,000USD.
IEEE PELS ENERGY STORAGE INNOVATION AWARD

The IEEE PELS Energy Storage Innovation Award is given to an individual or a group of upto
three for innovation in energy storage technology that significantly exceeds contemporary
performance limits and has practical application in communications energy systems.
Nominees for the award should have a record of activity in the research or product
development of energy storage for communications energy systems. Prize includes: an award
certificate and a one-time honorarium of in total 2,500 USD; limited grant of travel expenses
for the awardee(s) attending award ceremony.
IEEE PELS AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN POWER ELECTRONICS STANDARDS

Description: To recognize and honor individuals who have made outstanding and sustained
contributions or services in IEEE standards relevant to the field of power electronics. Prize: A
single annual award of $1,500 and engraved suitable plaque to a single recipient.
IEEE PELS SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

To recognize and honor individuals who have contributed scholarly and original technical and
scientific contributions towards the advancement of power electronics in the area of sustainable
energy systems. Prize: A single annual award of $1,500, an engraved Plaque, and Certificate.
MODELING AND CONTROL TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

To honor innovators and researchers who have made outstanding and sustained technical
contributions to the advancement of power electronics in the area of modeling and control A
honorarium of 500USD, an engraved plaque and an award certificate.
IEEE PELS SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

To recognize excellent service by a PELS Chapter to its members and to the power
electronics community 1,500USD to support activities of the Chapter, which may include
expenses for a representative to attend the Awards Ceremony; certificate that contains the
names of the Chapter Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. Deadline for applications 15 June 2017
For More Information: www.ieee-pels.org AWARDS or contact ____________
pels-staff@ieee.org
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White Hot (continued from page 76)
central office are blurring and dis- how we power this equipment. There student studying in an area of power
solving. The power needs of such a were several papers, including three electronics applicable to communica-
network are rapidly evolving. How keynotes, offering great insights on tions systems. The award is made on
we manage and design the power how we need to evolve our power the basis of merit of a proposed proj-
systems and converters for these systems to match the needs of a net- ect or study area deemed progressive
new networks is the key focus of work with such flexible, software- and directly relevant to communica-
INTELEC today. defined equipment. tions energy systems. You can learn
One can think of INTELEC 2016 was more about this award, including how
the telephone central also fortunate to have to apply, on the INTELEC web page:
office as the original dc Those working in a keynote address from http://intelec.org/.
___________
microgrid. The tele- Joh n Goodenou g h, I hope that I have convinced you to
todays microgrid
communications indus- inventor of the lithium think about submitting your work to
and renewable and attending INTELEC in the future.
try has more than a battery. Goodenough
century of experience energy systems described new research INTELEC 2017 will be held at the Gold
in these microgrids, can learn a lot in lithium batteries Coast Convention and Exhibition
including all the topics from the lessons witha solid, glass-based Centre at Broadbeach, Queensland,
one sees in todays lit- the telecommuni- electrolyte. These bat- Australia (just south of Brisbane) on
erature: power system teries, although still in 2226 October 2017. If you hurry a bit,
cations industry
architecture, energy the research lab, are there should still be time to submit
has learned over your two-page abstract to INTELEC
storage, integrating very promising, with
alternative energy so- more than much higher energy and 2017but do not delay, as the an-
urces, system manage- 100 years. power densities than nounced deadline is 24 March 2017.
ment and stability, pro- todays lithium batteries For more i n for mation about
tection, and disaster while offering much INTELEC and INTELEC 2017, see the
planning and recovery. Those working higher safety. INTELEC home page at ________
http://intelec
in todays microgrid and renewable One of the things I enjoyed about .org/ and the INTELEC 2017 home
___
energy systems can learn a lot from INTELEC 2016 is that it is a smaller page at http://www.intelec2017.org/.
__________________
the lessons the telecommunications conference with an attendance of
industry has learned over more than hundreds, not thousands. I love the About the Author
100 years. Applied Power Electronics Confer- Robert V. White (bob.white@ieee
___________
At the most recent INTELEC, held ence, but it has become overwhelm- .org)
___ has over 30 years of industry
this past October in Austin, Texas, all ing, with 1,000 papers, 400 exhibit experience as a power electronics
of these topics were in the program. booths, and 5,000 people filling engineer. He has worked in product
There were also papers on acdc con- a convention center for a week. design, systems and applications engi-
version, dcdc converters, wide INTELEC 2016, by contrast, was neering, and technology development.
bandgap power devices, and integrat- held entirely within one hotel space, He has been an active volunteer with
ing renewable and alternative energy with only a few sessions in parallel the IEEE Power Electronics Society,
sources like solar and wind. As a pro- at a time. This allowed for a more serving several years on the Adminis-
gram cochair of INTELEC 2016, I was convenient and enjoyable confer- trative Committee, two terms as tech-
pleased to receive many comments ence experience with lots of interac- nical vice president, and as a Chapter
on the high quality of the papers tion among attendees, speakers, chair. He earned a B.S.E.E. degree
being presented. and exhibitors. from the Massachusetts Institute of
The theme of INTELEC 2016 was For the graduate students who are Technology and an M.S.E.E. degree
Powering the Software Defined Net- reading this column, I would like to from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
work. Today, the function of commu- mention that the INTELEC Technical He is currently pursuing a Ph.D.
nications equipment can be changed Committee of PELS sponsors the degree in power electronics at the
on demand. For example, a server in IEEE Joseph John Suozzi INTELEC University of ColoradoBoulder. Pres-
a data center might be reconfigured Fellowship Award in Power Electron- ently, he is the chief engineer of
as a network router, or vice versa, as ics. This fellowship is named in honor Embedded Power Labs, a power elec-
needed by the demands of communi- of the late Joe Suozzi, a founder and tronics consulting company. He is a
cations traffic or processing load. long-time leader of INTELEC. This Fellow of the IEEE.
This ability to change the function of grant of US$15,000 is made annually
a device on demand also changes to an electrical engineering graduate
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DELIVERING THE FASTEST AND MOST

ACCURATE REAL-TIME SIMULATION
______________________
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White Hot
by Robert V. White
The Best Conference

You Never Attended
A
s someone who has worked in Yes, I know that conferences are national Communications Energy
industry for his entire career, expensive. Aside from the registration Conference (INTELEC). INTELEC
one of the key benefits of fee, the cost of airfare, a hotel room, has a long history that predates PELS.
the IEEE Power Electronics Society and meals all make conferences pric- INTELEC was the brainchild of sever-
(PELS) is the conferences. If you go ey. I know that it is difficult to con- al Bell Labs engineers who realized
to the PELS home page (www.ieee-
_______ vince your boss that the time and the need for such a conference. The
pels.org)
_____ and select the Conferenc- expense of attending a conference are first INTELEC was held in 1978 under
es tab, and then click on the All worth it. I will just say that for me, the the auspices of the IEEE Communica-
Upcoming Conferences link, you value easily matches the costwhich tions Society. INTELEC continued as
will see that PELS is involved in is important, because an annual conference
more than 20 conferences in 2017. a s someone who is at host cities all over
These conferences are all over the self-employed, every How we manage the world. In 1991,
globe and cover every possible area penny spent to attend a and design the INTELEC was trans-
of power electronics. conference comes out ferred to PELS.
power systems and
Why do I go to IEEE conferences? of my own pocket. The issues a nd
converters for these
Well, the papers are one reason. Earlier this year I themes of INTELEC
Sure, I can read the papers in IEEE recommended to an new networks is have evolved over the
Xplore after the conference, but that engineer at one of my the key focus of years. In the 1970s,
is not the same as personally seeing clients, an industrial INTELEC today. the papers were often
the presentation and then being able company in the Ameri- about the newfangled
to ask questions at the end of the can Midwest, that he go switch mode rectifi-
talk. The tutorials or seminars are to the 2016 Energy Conversion Con- ers. In the 1980s, the papers were
often worth the price of admission gress and Exposition, held this past often about the evolving distributed
alone. Getting to speak to companies September in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. power architectures used in telecom
in an exhibit hall about their latest He went, and after the conference I equipment. In the 1990s, a key topic
products and services can also be asked him what he thought of it. He was powering the network as the
invaluable and a good way to make replied, Coming home I kind of ques- transmission medium evolved from
new contacts. And then there are the tioned that value and fit to our markets, twisted-pair copper wires to coaxial
people. I generally learn as much or but this morning I have had three sepa- cable and optical fiber. In the 2000s,
more from the conversations in the rate conversations with colleagues much of the discussion focused on
hallways, at the social functions, or about topics I learned about at the con- powering the far-flung equipment of
while waiting for a session to start as ference. So, you learn more than you cellula r telephone networks. In
I do from the papers. These live, per- realize. And there you have the best todays network, with all traffic,
son-to-person discussions with fel- reason to go to an IEEE conference. whether voice, video, or data, being
low professionals cannot be matched Of all the conferences sponsored digital, the differences between data
by any online experience. or supported by PELS, I would like to center, telephone switching office,
bring to your attention the best con- mobile base station, and telephone
ference you may never have attended,
Date of publication: 7 March 2017 or even heard about: the IEEE Inter- (continued on page 74)
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Contents | Zoom in | Zoom out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue | Next Page

The EconoPACK 4 is an optimized module for 3-level applications such as

Vol. 4, No. 1 www.pels.org

For your engineering success

14 Standards in Power Electronics

25 How GaN Power Transistors

43 Tantalum Capacitor Technology

4 From the Editor

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2017.2650202

March 2017 ]IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 1

IEEE Power Electronics Magazine

IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying.

Promoting Sustainable Forestry

2 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017

Complete Power System-in-a-Package

Over 100 Module Power Solutions

Module Product Family Examples For More Information

Product Family Key Features & Part Numbers

From the Editor

4 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017

High Current MSD Series Low Prole LPD Series

OPTIMIZED HIGH-FREQUENCY MAGNETICS Agile Magnetics

Agile Magnetics, Concord, NH  www.agilemagco.com  1-800-805-8991  Since 1992

6 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017

FMBC LL EMC Solutions

DKIH FMAB NEO

Minding the Present

8 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017

10 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017

the stage for building an admission of such process-

3-D Printing Versus Additive Manufacturing

12 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017

About the Author ney to digital business. [Online]. Available: http://

March 2017 ]IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 13

Which Standards Do I Need to Know About?

14 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017 2329-9207/172017IEEE

is then considered by the IEEE Standards Asso-

March 2017 ]IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 15

ogy road map for WBG power devices.

16 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017

tors fabricated in a dense electronic circuit doubles every

March 2017 ]IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 17

18 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017

2329-9207/172017IEEE March 2017 ]IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 19

20 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE ]March 2017

Table 1. The acdc single-output EPS active mode efficiency requirements.

1 1 P no # 49 W $ 0.071 # In (P no) $ 0.071 # In (P no) $ 0.063 # In (P no) + 0.622 $ 0.071 # In (P no)

49 1 P no # 250 W $ 0.890 $ 0.88 0.87 $ 0.790

0 < Pno # 1W $ 0.517 # P no + 0.091 $ 0.517 # P no + 0.087 0.497 # P no + 0.067 $ 0.517 # P no

1 1 P no # 49 W $ 0.0834 # In (Pno) $ 0.0834 # In (P no) 0.075 # In (P no) + 0.561 $ 0.0834 # In (P no)

49 1 P no # 250 W $ 0.880 $ 0.870 0.860 $ 0.780

2 250 W N/A $ 0.875 N/A N/A

N/A: not available.

Table 2. The acdc single-output EPS no-load power consumption requirements.

March 2017 ]IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE 21

Table 3. The 80 PLUS minimum IPS efficiency requirements.

230-V EU Internal Power Supplies

Standard 82% 85% 82% 0.9 at 50% load

Bronze 85% 88% 85% 0.9 at 50% load

Silver 87% 90% 87% 0.9 at 50% load

Gold 90% 92% 89% 0.9 at 50% load

Platinum 92% 94% 90% 0.95 at 50% load

Titanium 90% 94% 96% 94% 0.95 at 20% load

EU: European Union.

Agile Magnetics, Concord, NH www.agilemagco.com 1-800-805-8991 Since 1992