In this work we show for the first time evidence of gate-drain breakdown walkout due to hot electrons in pseudomorphic AlGaAs-InGaAs-GaAs HEMTs (PHEMTs). Experiments performed on passivated commercial PHEMTs show that hot electron stress cycles induce a large and permanent increase of the gate-drain breakdown voltage. Three-terminal and two-terminal stress conditions are compared, the former producing a much larger walkout due to hot electrons flowing in the channel. Experimental results indicate that a build-up of negative charge in the region between gate and drain is responsible for the breakdown walkout, due to a local widening of the depletion region and a reduction of the peak electric field.

This paper presents a comparison of conventional single-phase water/glycol liquid and innovative two-phase cooling technology for thermal management of high power electronics automotive IGBT modules during full drive cycle. The proposed two-phase cooling system is built using conventional automotive air conditioning components (condenser, expansion valve, compressor, and vapor and liquid lines) and conventional cold plate as used for single-phase cooling, thus the design does not require the development of new technology for its implementation. 3-D numerical simulation in COMSOL and experimental results of two-phase cooling have been obtained on a prototype and compared to conventional water/glycol cooling high power electronics modules, with considerable improvement on working temperature, power transfer capacity and equalization of die temperatures during a full driving cycle. These results suggest that two-phase cooling using the same cold plates as in single-phase cooling can be used to substantially improve the performance and reliability, of EV power converters without major changes.

A study is presented aimed at describing phenomena involved in Single Event Burnout induced by heavy ion irradiation in SiC Schottky diodes. On the basis of experimental data obtained for ⁷⁹Br irradiation at different energies, electro-thermal FEM is used to demonstrate that the failure is caused by a strong local increase of the semiconductor temperature. With respect to previous studies the temperature dependent thermal material properties were added. The critical ion energy calculated by this model is in agreement with literature experimental results. The substrate doping dependence of the SEE robustness was analyzed, proving the effectiveness of the developed model for device technological improvements.

Currently, the electrification of transport networks is one of the initiatives being performed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the rapid advancement of power electronic systems for electrified transportation systems, their integration into the AC power grid generates a variety of quality issues in the electrical distribution system. Among the possible solutions to this challenge is the inclusion of continuous storage systems, which can be located either onboard or offboard. The rapid development of energy storage devices has enabled the creation of numerous solutions that are leading to ever-increasing energy consumption efficiency, particularly when two or more of these storage systems are linked in a cascade and a hybrid mode. The various energy storage systems that can be integrated into vehicle charging systems (cars, buses, and trains) are investigated in this study, as are their electrical models and the various hybrid storage systems that are available.