Etienne Gheeraert, Université Grenoble Alpes, will be visiting the School of Engineering. As part of his visit he will deliver a seminar entitled, "Diamond electronic devices for power electronics". Abstract and biography are given below.

Date & Time: 14:45, Thursday, 22nd June
Venue: Room 514, Rankine Building

Abstract

The key to the efficient transmission and conversion of low-carbon electrical energy is the improvement of power electronic devices. Diamond is considered to be the ultimate wide bandgap semiconductor material for applications in high power electronics due to its exceptional thermal and electronic properties. Two recent developments - the emergence of commercially available electronic grade single crystals and a scientific breakthrough in creating a MOS channel in diamond technology, have now opened new opportunities for the fabrication and commercialisation of diamond power transistors.
These will result in substantial improvements in the performance of power electronic systems by offering higher blocking voltages, improved efficiency and reliability, as well as reduced thermal requirements thus opening the door to more efficient green electronic systems.
The current research carried out mainly in Japan and Europe will be presented, with the various device architectures explored, including MOSFET, MESFET, JFET and rectifiers. Results obtained in the framework of the first European research collaboration on diamond devices, aiming at fabricating the first HVDC diamond based converter will also be presented.

First published: 13 June 2017

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