CAREER: A New GaN-based Unit Cell for Highly Efficient Integrated Power Conversion

事业：用于高效集成功率转换的新型 GaN 基单元

• 批准号: 1454320
• 负责人: Srabanti Chowdhury
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-03-01 至 2017-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1454320&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; New; GaN; based; Unit

The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award is to develop a very low loss power transistor with an integrated drive circuit for power conversion applications. The approach will use an innovative fabrication process to address issues with Gallium Nitride-based vertical transistors that have previously limited the technology from achieving superior performance and widespread adoption. A significant amount of energy is wasted as heat due to inefficient power conversion. The solution provided through this program will reduce or eliminate the wasted energy thereby effectively extending the lifetime of available energy resources. This energy savings will add to the global energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The educational and outreach components are aimed at fostering interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines and developing scientific knowledge at the undergraduate and K-12 levels. These activities are focused on working with a diverse group of students particularly women and other underrepresented groups. Integration of the research and education will be achieved through workshops and classes dedicated to understanding semiconductor devices and build prototypes or models for their K-12 classrooms. Specific outreach goals include collaboration with K-8 girls through Engineering Adventure and Teacher College candidates through Engineers Serving Education. The educational goal is to continue building on a recently introduced coursework on power electronics and extend the knowledge on cutting edge technologies acquired through the research under this program.The unique polarization properties of the nitrogen polar orientation of Gallium nitride will be utilized for the first time to develop vertical transistors that require no interruptions during the growth of the structure. The reverse polarization field of the Aluminum Gallium Nitride/Gallium Nitride heterostructure is designed to block current in the transistor while providing a very conductive path for the current to flow in designated region. An on-state resistance below 1 mohm.cm2 is estimated from this novel transistor design and is set as a target in this program. Lack of an integrated gate driver has limited high switching speed and efficiency of power converters due to the deleterious effects of board interconnects and bond wire inductance. This innovation pushes the limits of power electronics to very high power densities with high efficiency delivered at high frequencies by first developing superior performance of nitride-based vertical transistors and then eliminating the limits placed on switching speed by trace inductance of bond wires and board interconnects by integrating the driver circuit based on lateral transistors on-chip. The scope of this research extends into both fundamental device research and application space where the device structures will be used to determine fundamental properties of the material including the first direct measurement of electron velocity in Gallium nitride. Finally the merit will be evident through new circuit architectures with increased efficiency and reduced form factor by enabling high efficiency power conversion at high frequencies.

该学院早期职业发展（职业）计划奖的研究目标是开发一种具有集成驱动电路的极低损耗功率晶体管，用于功率转换应用。该方法将使用创新的制造工艺来解决氮化镓垂直晶体管的问题，这些问题此前限制了该技术实现卓越性能和广泛采用。由于功率转换效率低下，大量能量以热量的形式被浪费。通过该计划提供的解决方案将减少或消除能源浪费，从而有效延长可用能源的使用寿命。 这种节能将增强全球能源安全并减少温室气体排放。教育和外展部分旨在培养本科生和 K-12 学生对科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 学科的兴趣并发展科学知识。这些活动的重点是与不同的学生群体合作，特别是女性和其他代表性不足的群体。研究和教育的整合将通过致力于了解半导体器件并为 K-12 教室构建原型或模型的研讨会和课程来实现。具体的推广目标包括通过 Engineering Adventure 与 K-8 女生合作，以及通过 Engineers Serving Education 与师范学院候选人合作。教育目标是继续以最近推出的电力电子课程为基础，并扩展通过该计划的研究获得的尖端技术知识。氮化镓氮极性取向的独特偏振特性将首次被利用开发在结构生长过程中不需要中断的垂直晶体管。氮化铝镓/氮化镓异质结构的反向极化场旨在阻止晶体管中的电流，同时为电流在指定区域流动提供良好的导电路径。根据这种新颖的晶体管设计估算出低于 1 mohm.cm2 的通态电阻，并将其设置为该程序的目标。由于板互连和键合线电感的有害影响，缺乏集成栅极驱动器限制了电源转换器的高开关速度和效率。这项创新通过首先开发基于氮化物的垂直晶体管的卓越性能，然后通过键合线和板互连的迹线电感消除开关速度的限制，将电力电子器件的极限推向非常高的功率密度，并在高频下实现高效率。片上集成基于横向晶体管的驱动电路。这项研究的范围延伸到基础器件研究和应用领域，其中器件结构将用于确定材料的基本特性，包括首次直接测量氮化镓中的电子速度。最后，通过新的电路架构，通过在高频下实现高效功率转换，提高效率并缩小外形尺寸，其优点将变得显而易见。