SiC power devices for Smart Grid systems

Author

Palmour, J.W. ; Zhang, J.Q. ; Das, M.K. ; Callanan, R. ; Agarwal, A.K. ; Grider, D.E.

Author_Institution

Cree, Inc., Durham, NC, USA

fYear

2010

fDate

21-24 June 2010

Firstpage

1006

Lastpage

1013

Abstract

A Smart Grid with distributed generation is critical for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, current power converters and circuit breakers built with silicon switches are very bulky and inefficient, making their use difficult in practical Smart Grid systems. The development of high voltage power devices based on SiC will be a critical development in building a Smart Grid with distributed and fluctuating sources of power generation. In this paper, the physics and technology of high voltage (> 10 kV) 4H-SiC power devices, namely MOSFETs, IGBTs, and GTOs, are discussed. A detailed review of the current status and trends in these devices is given with respect to materials growth, device design, and the potential future ranges for use.

Keywords

MOSFET; air pollution control; distributed power generation; insulated gate bipolar transistors; power convertors; power semiconductor switches; silicon compounds; smart power grids; thyristors; wide band gap semiconductors; 4H-SiC power devices; GTO; IGBT; MOSFET; SiC; circuit breakers; distributed generation; greenhouse gas emission reduction; high voltage power devices; power converters; power generation; silicon switches; smart grid systems; Circuit breakers; Distributed control; Distributed power generation; Global warming; Silicon carbide; Smart grids; Switches; Switching circuits; Switching converters; Voltage; GTOs; IGBTs; MOSFETs; SiC;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Power Electronics Conference (IPEC), 2010 International

Conference_Location

Sapporo

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-5394-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IPEC.2010.5542027

Filename

5542027