Research and Application of Wide Band Gap Semiconductors

Dear Colleagues,

The emerging generation of power semiconductor devices based on wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors is revolutionizing the power device market. Improved material quality and painstaking R&D efforts have enabled superior device performances for 4H-SiC MOSFETs and GaN HEMTs when compared to equivalent Si-based solutions.

However, the success of future generation devices relies upon addressing several scientific challenges as follows:

1. Optimization of material growth towards low defect density substrates and thick epi layers.
2. Comprehensive understanding of the role of defects in the electrical and thermal performance of final devices.

• Device design optimization and co-optimization of passivation, insulation, and packaging solutions to increase power densities without compromising the reliability and long-term lifetime.

1. Comprehensive understanding of the devices’ reliability and degradation phenomena (such as time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB), hot carrier injection (HCJ), dynamic Ron, bipolar degradation, threshold voltage instability, interface traps, and bulk traps, etc.), as well as subsequent design solutions to mitigate them.
2. Optimization of converter and gate driver architectures to fully exploit the potential of the latest generation of WBG semiconductors.
3. vi) Understanding the potential and limitations of a new class of materials, namely UWBG devices (Diamond, AlN, Ga₂O₃), and evaluating whether novel device designs and solutions can outperform current commercial devices.

This Special Issue aims to highlight and collect the latest advancements in device fabrication, material growth, device electro-thermal modeling and simulations, lateral and vertical novel device configurations, reliability tests and measurements, as well as converter- and system-related solutions for both WBG and UWBG devices. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

• WBG and UWBG power semiconductor devices (GaN, 4H-SiC, Diamond, Gallium Oxide, AlN, etc.)
• Advanced WBG material epitaxy and substrate growth
• Thermal optimization of WBG devices
• System-level aspects of WBG and UWBG devices
• Monolithic and heterogeneous integration
• System- and device-level reliability

Dr. Nazareno Donato
Dr. Alessandro Borghese
Guest Editors

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• WBG semiconductors
• UWBG semiconductors
• 4H-SiC FETs
• GaN HEMT
• vertical GaN
• AlN
• diamond electronics
• power devices
• finite element modelling
• reliability
• SiC MOSFET