2025 PowerBest Winners: Power Devices

What you'll learn:

• SiC and GaN device makers are using advanced junction structures and innovative packaging to offer more robust, cooler-running products.
• Advanced packaging technologies are also fueling the rise of pre-integrated power modules that save space and simplify both design and manufacturing.
• These advances have sparked the emergence of new power architectures, such as bidirectional high-power switches, which provide a simpler, more efficient alternative to traditional back-to-back configurations.
• Meanwhile, silicon devices continue to evolve, allowing lower-cost IGBTs and Si MOSFETS to remain highly competitive in many applications where WBG devices were expected to dominate.

UHV SiC Devices Geared Toward Mission-Critical Energy Infrastructure Apps

Navitas Semiconductor’s latest 3,300- and 2,300-V ultra-high-voltage (UHV) silicon-carbide (SiC) devices are available in power module, discrete, and known-good-die (KGD) formats. They target applications that require high reliability, high performance, and enhanced avalanche resistance, such as energy storage, renewable power, and megawatt-scale fast-charging.

The devices’ structures are based on Navitas' trench-assisted planar (TAP) architecture, which implements a multi-step e-field management profile to significantly reduce voltage stress and improve voltage-blocking capabilities when compared with trench and traditional planar SiC MOSFETs.

The company’s TAP technology also features an optimal source contact for superior cell-pitch density and enhanced current-spreading. It results in improved switching figures of merit and lower on-resistance at elevated temperatures.

Originally appeared in the December Edition of PowerBites

Radical MOSFET Junction Structure Delivers Extreme Efficiency and Performance

iDEAL Semiconductor is now sampling the first products in its new series of silicon MOSFETs that leverage its SuperQ architecture to deliver efficiencies and performance that rival some compound semiconductor devices. The first products in the new family of MOSFETs are a 150-V device with 6.4 mΩ on-resistance (R_DS(on)) and a 200-V device with 6.1 mΩ R_DS(on).

On an interesting and potentially important side note, technology behind the devices was developed, and is presently manufactured, in the U.S. At the time of this writing, the company is committed to continuing onshore manufacturing.

In contrast to conventional “superjunction” structures that restrict the N-conduction region to 50% of the device, iDEAL’s SuperQ MOSFETs use an asymmetrical structure that allows up to 95% of the device’s active area to function as N-conduction regions. The new architecture also dramatically reduces the amount of die real estate needed to provide voltage blocking within the device.

When combined with higher doping levels, it enables fabrication of smaller devices that exhibit voltage-blocking capabilities of 19-20V/μm and require a significantly thinner epi payer. This reduces switching losses by up to 2.1X versus competing devices. According to iDEAL, the compact transistor structures also exhibit low leakage currents, store less energy, and lower reverse recovery.

Originally appeared in the September 2025 edition of PowerBites

Advanced SiC Power Modules Deliver High Current Density to Industrial, EV Systems

The third-generation series of QSiC MOSFET modules from SemiQ Inc. offer current capabilities of up to 608 A and a junction-to-case thermal resistance of just 0.07ºC/W to address the growing demand for ultra-efficient conversion in high-power systems.

The initial offering of seven devices includes a high-current S3 half-bridge, B2T1 six-pack, and B3 full-bridge modules. They’re able to dramatically increase performance, reduce cooling complexity, and cut switching losses for the next wave of EV chargers, energy storage systems, and industrial motor drives. The seven products initially released include:

• Six-pack modules that integrate the three-phase power stage into a compact housing and have an on-resistance (R_DS(on)) range of 19.5 to 82 mΩ. They’re designed to optimize layout and minimize parasitics in motor drives and advanced AC-DC converters.
• Full-bridge modules that deliver high current capabilities of up to 120 A and an ultra-low R_DS(on) down to 8.6 mΩ. This combination, coupled with a low thermal resistance of 0.28°C/W, maximizes power density and efficiency in single-phase inverters and high-voltage DC-DC systems.

Originally appeared in the December Edition of PowerBites

Bidirectional 650-V GaN Switch Helps Boost Efficiency of Converter Architectures

The CoolGaN bidirectional 650-V G5 from Infineon Technologies is a gallium-nitride (GaN) switch capable of actively blocking voltage and current in both directions. The monolithic bidirectional switch (BDS) features a common-drain design and double-gate structure that makes it a simpler, more efficient alternative to traditional back-to-back configurations commonly used in converters.

By integrating two switches in one device, the BDS simplifies the design of cycloconverter topologies that offer improved efficiency, increased reliability, and a more compact design. In addition, the device supports advanced grid functions such as reactive power compensation and bidirectional operation.

Originally appeared in the June 2025 Edition of PowerBites