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Power Electronic Semiconductor Materials for Automotive and Energy Saving Applications – SiC, GaN, Ga 2 O 3 , and Diamond
Author(s) -
Wellmann Peter J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.354
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1521-3749
pISSN - 0044-2313
DOI - 10.1002/zaac.201700270
Subject(s) - gallium nitride , silicon carbide , materials science , electronics , engineering physics , diamond , semiconductor , automotive industry , silicon , wide bandgap semiconductor , nanotechnology , semiconductor device , fabrication , power semiconductor device , optoelectronics , electrical engineering , engineering , metallurgy , medicine , alternative medicine , layer (electronics) , pathology , voltage , aerospace engineering
Power electronics belongs to the future key technologies in order to increase system efficiency as well as performance in automotive and energy saving applications. Silicon is the major material for electronic switches since decades. Advanced fabrication processes and sophisticated electronic device designs have optimized the silicon electronic device performance almost to their theoretical limit. Therefore, to increase the system performance, new materials that exhibit physical and chemical properties beyond silicon need to be explored. A number of wide bandgap semiconductors like silicon carbide, gallium nitride, gallium oxide, and diamond exhibit outstanding characteristics that may pave the way to new performance levels. The review will introduce these materials by (i) highlighting their properties, (ii) introducing the challenges in materials growth, and (iii) outlining limits that need innovation steps in materials processing to outperform current technologies.