SUNY Poly awarded $1.5m by DOE’s Vehicle Technology Office to develop 1200V SiC MOSFETs highly efficient and reliable AlGaN HEMTs for power electronics

State University of New York (SUNY) Polytechnic Institute says that its interim VP of research advancement & graduate studies Dr Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik and associate professor of nanoengineering Dr Woongje Sung have been selected to receive $1.5m in federal funding from the US Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technology Office (VTO) for the development of 1200V silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and for reliability studies on aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN)-based high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs), which are superior switch components than their silicon-based counterparts in areas such as cost, performance and reliability. This could lead to highly efficient and reliable power electronics for electric drive trains for a range of applications, including improved electric vehicles (EVs).

The award will enable “advanced power electronics research, which can have a significant impact on next-generation applications, including enhancing clean transportation capabilities,” says SUNY Poly interim president Dr Grace Wang. “This VTO grant showcases the in-depth expertise of our faculty that, when combined with SUNY Poly’s globally recognized research capabilities, drives advancements that can strengthen our nation’s energy independence and benefit our high-tech economy… A number of undergraduate and graduate students will gain first-hand experience in this research area,” she adds.

The VTO award will support research efforts through the new ‘Electric Drive Technologies Consortium’, of which SUNY Poly is one of the 10 founding university members (the consortium is supported by the Vehicle Technology Office and Department of Energy). The grant will also provide research experience for a number of SUNY Poly graduate students who will be able to participate in the project, in addition to several undergraduate students who will also be encouraged to take part in various aspects of the effort (including design, fabrication, characterization and analysis of the SiC power devices).

More specifically, the SUNY Poly researchers will demonstrate a highly reliable wide-bandgap (WBG) aluminum gallium nitride/gallium nitride (AlGaN/GaN) HEMT-based power device. Making use of the AlGaN/GaN material’s properties to enable higher performance for HEMT on GaN compared with state-of-the-art HEMTs on other substrates (such as sapphire), the device is expected to have extremely high levels of performance at certain frequencies with low noise, making it suitable for high-speed, high-frequency applications.

Shahedipour-Sandvik and Sung have also received additional research funding for the following separate projects:

$255,000 for the Development of More Energy Efficient Semiconductor Materials - Shahedipour-Sandvik recently received a $255,000 award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to research novel efficient p-type nitride materials (used to create more energy-efficient semiconductors for advanced solid-state lighting and computing capabilities). The research will form the basis of a graduate student’s thesis research as well as the Capstone research of an undergraduate student and will be conducted in collaboration with Virginia Commonwealth University.
$250,000 for the Development of High Voltage Power Devices on Silicon Carbide - Sung has received a $250,000 award from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for the development of high-voltage (12kV) power devices on SiC, in collaboration with The Ohio State University, the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and CoolCAD Electronics LLC. These 12kV SiC devices could address a number of US Navy needs (such as for medium-voltage distribution on more electric ships) as well as provide direct power for critical needs during a mission and the degaussing of ships, rail guns and solid-state transformers, for example. This research could also lead to commercial applications, such as variable-speed drives for megawatt (MW)-class electric motors, 13.8kV distribution grid equipment, the incorporation of renewables on the distribution grid, and high-voltage DC (HVDC) transmission. Sung’s team will design the device and process flow. After fabrication is complete, they will evaluate the performance and reliability of the SiC devices at SUNY Poly’s Albany campus, where graduate and undergraduate students will be able to participate in their design, fabrication, characterization and analysis.

The VTO award “will utilize our unique epitaxial growth system and baseline process to fabricate HEMT on GaN,” says Shahedipour-Sandvik. Also, the additional National Science Foundation grant will “underpin research with our partnering institution into novel materials for more energy-efficient lighting and computing capabilities, which are critical for the future because of the vast energy consumption resulting from current, less efficient computer chips,” he adds. The research opportunities will provide “an excellent hands-on lab experience which can act as a launching pad for a number of our SUNY Poly graduate and undergraduate students,” Shahedipour-Sandvik concludes.

“We will design the device and process flow before evaluating the performance and reliability of the silicon carbide (SiC) devices at SUNY Poly’s state-of-the-art facilities,” notes Sung. “In addition to this project serving as an excellent educational opportunity for SUNY Poly students, I am also honored to have received a separate grant from the Office of Naval Research and look forward to working with our partners to develop high-voltage SiC power devices for a number of critical defense and commercial applications.”

Tags: Power electronics

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