Power semiconductors

IGBTs and IGCTs have established themselves as the two most successful semiconductor switches in the highest power range in recent years. Both concepts are developing in parallel, and it can be observed that the development objectives are increasingly converging. At the present stage, both components can be considered mature, ie, quantum leaps seem unlikely, and future progress is likely to take the form of evolution rather than revolution. However, this does not apply to housing and interconnection technologies, which may permit to exploit the so far unused potential of silicon. The motivation to innovate in this area is high, as the large scale introduction of wide bandgap materials to the high-power range is still a long way ahead. At present, SiC appears to be the only one of these materials to have a realistic chance.