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$\beta$-Ga₂O₃ in Power Electronics Converters: Opportunities & Challenges

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Matthew Deakin, Professor Phil Taylor

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

In this work, the possibility of using different generations of $\beta$-Ga₂O₃ as an ultra-wide-bandgap power semiconductor device for high power converter applications is explored. The competitiveness of $\beta$-Ga₂O₃ for power converters in still not well quantified, for which the major determining factors are the on-state resistance, $R_{{\rm ON}}$, reverse blocking voltage, $V_{{\rm BR}}$, and the thermal resistance, $R_{{\rm th}}$. We have used the best reported device specifications from literature, both in terms of reports of experimental measurements and potential demonstrated by computer-aided designs, to study power converter performance for different device generations. Modular multilevel converter-based voltage source converters are identified as a topology with significant potential to exploit these device characteristics. The performance of MVDC & HVDC converters based on this topology have been analysed, focusing on system level power losses and case temperature rise at the device level. Comparisons of these $\beta$-Ga₂O₃ devices are made against contemporary SiC-FET and Si-IGBTs. The results have indicated that although the early $\beta$-Ga₂O₃ devices are not competitive to incumbent Si-IGBT and SiC-FET modules, the latest experimental measurements on NiO_X/$\beta$-Ga₂O₃ and $\beta$-Ga₂O₃/diamond significantly surpass the performance of incumbent modules. Furthermore, parameters derived from semiconductor-level simulations indicate that the $\beta$-Ga₂O₃/diamond in superjunction structures delivers even superior performance in these power converters.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Jahdi S, Kumar AS, Deakin M, Taylor PC, Kuball M

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics

Year: 2024

Pages: ePub ahead of Print

Online publication date: 10/04/2024

Acceptance date: 02/04/2018

Date deposited: 22/04/2024

ISSN (electronic): 2644-1314

Publisher: IEEE

URL: https://doi.org/10.1109/OJPEL.2024.3387076

DOI: 10.1109/OJPEL.2024.3387076

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