Power Semiconductor Device Modeling and Simulation

Abstract

Power semiconductor devices continue to be an active area of research and development. With the emergence of wide bandgap technologies this area has blossomed over the past decade beyond silicon boundaries. A brief survey of courses available around the world on the topic of power semiconductor device modeling and simulation is provided. An exemplar course at the University of Arkansas is described to demonstrate its applicability to power electronics students interested in circuit design, controls, device design, electronic packaging, and compact modeling of devices. This course is built on model-based engineering principles that are applicable to any area of electronic design. I. IntroductionWith the advent of wide bandgap semiconductors (e.g., SiC and GaN), it is now possible to fabricate power devices with high voltage and current ratings and extremely fast dv/dt and di/dt. This is why, even in the presence of minimal parasitics, a significant amount of oscillation is observed in the switching characteristics of the circuits that employ wide bandgap power devices. Additionally, these wide bandgap devices can be effectively incorporated in numerous high temperature applications. In order to predict these oscillations and high temperature behavior as well as estimate rise and fall times, voltage breakdown phenomena, leakage current, and conduction and switching losses accurately, physics-based compact models of power devices are a must for power electronics circuits and systems simulation. The phrase 'compact models' refers to the device models created for use in circuit simulation. The 'compactness' is achieved through reasonable mathematical approximations to the two and three dimensional charge distribution and movement within the actual device as is reflected more precisely through finite-element analysis. Compact models are necessary in order to simulate circuitry that consists of tens, hundreds and even thousands of devices.

Power Electronic Module Packaging at UA

“…These courses have benefited the power electronic module research and development program through more teambased research projects. A typical project might include a device modeling student, a power packaging student, and a power electronic design student all focused on the research and development of a new integrated power module [12].…”

Advanced avionics applications simulation platform (AAASP) for accurate aircraft systems simulation

“…As a consequence, confirmed by the outcomes from previous projects, integration phase is a critical task. All these requirements are pushing to a "Model Based Engineering" (MBE) approach [12], [13], [19][20][21][22], [24] where the intelligent use of models and simulations become an inherent part of a validation and verification cycle. There are a plethora of power simulation libraries for almost every simulation software tool available, however they tend to be targeted at a specific area or level of modeling, in contrast, this library has been developed to cut across all levels of the aircraft power system.…”