Recently, a research paper entitled “Multi-channel nanowire devices for efficient power conversion” was published in Nature Electronics by our team members. The paper reported on new power devices based on multi-channel technology and wide-band semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN). This technology is a major advance in power electronics and wide-band semiconductors, which is expected to improve energy conversion efficiency significantly.
Fig.1 Structural schematics and SEM images of multi-channel devices.
Fig.2 The effect of multi-channel on the breakdown voltage of the device and the increase of the breakdown voltage caused by the oblique three-dimensional gate.
Fig.3 Comparison of the performance of new devices with existing technologies shows significant performance improvements.
Semiconductor power devices are the core components of electrical energy conversion. Their breakdown voltage and on-state resistance determine the power level and energy efficiency of electrical energy conversion. The higher the on-state resistance for a certain voltage rating, the higher the losses during the device operation.
Based on the multi-channel tri-gate technology, a high-efficiency GaN nanowire power device is developed, which can greatly reduce the on-state resistance of the device. The technology incorporates two key innovations: the first is to create parallel conductive channels to reduce the resistance, just as new lanes are added to highways to make traffic smoother; the second involves the use of a three-dimensional gate structure enabling withstanding over 1,200 V of voltage without breaking. Thanks to the combination of these two innovations, multi-channel power devices result in the best performance in the literature and pave the way for a new generation of high-efficiency power devices.
Referenced Paper:
Nela, L., Ma, J., Erine, C. et al. Multi-channel nanowire devices for efficient power conversion. Nat Electron 4, 284–290 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00550-8