August 26, 2014 (Grenoble, France). For the first time, SEMICON Europa 2014 will offer two new power-related technical forums—Power Electronics Conference (October 8-9) and Low Power Conference (October 7-8). The exhibition and conferences will offer an in-depth look at the cutting-edge energy technology delivering new levels of energy efficiency in electronics. Energy efficiency is a key challenge, and advances in power microelectronics, batteries, mobility, and energy-harvesting systems are making power management smarter to reduce energy consumption. SEMICON Europa’s two new power conferences focus on how innovators and their technologies are building energy-optimized applications.
The theme of the Low Power Conference is “Highly Energy Efficient Nanotechnologies and Applications.” The number of connected electronics devices is growing exponentially. According to Jean-Marc Chery, COO of STMicroelectronics, to sustain this growth, the semiconductor industry needs a real breakthrough in energy efficiency—both for connected devices and for the communication infrastructure. At the same time, the traditional planar bulk CMOS technology is plateauing in power consumption and performance beyond 28 nm, so breakthrough solutions for energy efficient systems are mandatory to continue the growth.
Sessions will cover market analysis, technology energy efficiency, processors energy efficient design, energy efficient EDA tools, and applications.
Speaker highlights include
- STMicroelectronics: Jean-Marc Chery, COO;
- GLOBALFOUNDRIES: Manfred Horstmann, director, Products and Integration;
- Qualcomm Technologies: Mustafa Badaroglu, senior program manager;
- Cadence Design Systems: Marcus Binning, senior AE manager;
- IBS Inc.: Handel Jones, CEO;
- Hewlett-Packard: Rémi Barbarin, CTO; and
- Schneider Electric: Gilles Chabanis, manager, Pervasive Sensing.
The Power Electronics Conference is themed “The Ultimate Path to CO2 Reduction.” Modern power semiconductors play an essential role in energy conservation and worldwide CO2 reduction. Philippe Roussel, business unit manager at Yole Développement, will present the keynote on market and technology overview of the power electronics industry, including a look at the impact of wide bandgap (WBG) devices. He believes that the emergence of new WBG technologies such as SiC and GaN will reshape the established power electronics industry, especially on the high-voltage side. SiC and GaN offer benefits (higher frequency switching, power density, and more) that may dramatically help improve the power conversion efficiency. Yole believes that this could lead to lower CO2 emission if both SiC and GaN can emerge from labs to mass production. SiC transitioned a few years ago and GaN is starting the commercialization curve. By 2020, WBD devices are expected to generate more than $1 billion according to Yole.
An applications session will include speakers from CEA/LETI, EpiGaN, European Center for Power Electronics e.V. (ECPE), Infineon, European Commission, Renault, and Supergrid Institute. A technology and materials session will include presenters from Fairchild, Infineon Technologies AG, SiCrystal AG, Siltronic AG, Soitec, ST Catania, and Yole Développement.