Publications

This report contains the outcome of this first study on the reliability of Wide Band Gap (WBG) components and WBG-based applications. By summarizing key findings, it leads to an outlook and discusses the next steps.

This paper discusses different potential policy measures to support the WBG uptake in end use equipment. The EU product regulations and specifically the potential PV inverter efficiency requirements, are discussed, serving as an example. Standardisation, in various fields (test methods for reliability and efficiency, rules for environmental footprint, modules and package architecture) and economic support for creating a WBG ecosystem are considered as well. Implementation drivers and barriers are identified through stakeholder interviews highlighting specifically

This work estimates the yearly global energy savings potential of different power electronics applications featuring commercial wide bandgap (WBG)-based power converters. It is the first study analyzing real products in the market. We show that WBG-based products exhibit considerable energy-saving potential in all investigated applications. Further, because of the large annual increase of installed photovoltaic (PV) and electric vehicle (EV)-charger converters, we estimate future energy-saving potential.

Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices offer energy efficiency improvements over conventional silicon (Si) semiconductors. Through measurements and simulation results, this paper intends to quantify this efficiency improvement in a typical photovoltaic (PV) application. This allows designers and policy makers to better understand the benefits of SiC, enabling more informed decisions.

In this paper, we review some of the main methods to characterize on-state and off-state losses in wide-band-gap devices under switching conditions. In the off-state, we will discuss about losses related to charging and discharging the output capacitance in wide-band-gap devices, both in hard- and soft-switching. In the on-state, we will present an accurate measurement of dynamic on-resistance degradation, particularly in Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices. These losses are typically not described in data-sheets, but can

This paper discusses different measurement methods to evaluate the efficiency of WBG-based power supply solutions, including electrical measurement methods and their verification with calorimetric methods, and compares the performance of Si-based and GaN-based chargers. The efficiency of chargers was measured at different load conditions, and it was observed that the maximum efficiency occurred generally at higher powers. GaN-based solutions outperformed Si-based chargers at higher power levels, leading to significant energy savings. The paper suggests that

The environmental aspects and impacts of wide bandgap (WBG) materials such as Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) in specific end-use electronic applications and products have not yet been fully investigated. The design trade-offs and comparison of WBG with classic Silicon based technology for the same applications, with a life cycle thinking perspective, are only starting to emerge. In general, policy-makers are unaware of the impacts and benefits of WBG semiconductor devices, and governments