$\beta$-Ga2O3 in Power Electronics Converters: Opportunities & Challenges

In this work, the possibility of using different generations of
$\beta$
-Ga
₂
O
₃
as an ultra-wide-bandgap power semiconductor device for high power converter applications is explored. The competitiveness of
$\beta$
-Ga
₂
O
₃
for power converters in still not well quantified, for which the major determining factors are the on-state resistance,
$R_{\text{ON}}$
, reverse blocking voltage,
$V_{\text{BR}}$
, and the thermal resistance,
$R_{\text{th}}$
. We have used the best reported device specifications from literature, both in terms of reports of experimental measurements and potential demonstrated by computer-aided designs, to study power converter performance for different device generations. Modular multilevel converter-based voltage source converters are identified as a topology with significant potential to exploit these device characteristics. The performance of MVDC & HVDC converters based on this topology have been analysed, focusing on system level power losses and case temperature rise at the device level. Comparisons of these
$\beta$
-Ga
₂
O
₃
devices are made against contemporary SiC-FET and Si-IGBTs. The results have indicated that although the early
$\beta$
-Ga
₂
O
₃
devices are not competitive to incumbent Si-IGBT and SiC-FET modules, the latest experimental measurements on NiO
$_\mathrm{X}$
/
$\beta$
-Ga
₂
O
₃
and
$\beta$
-Ga
₂
O
₃
/diamond significantly surpass the performance of incumbent modules. Furthermore, parameters derived from semiconductor-level simulations indicate that the
$\beta$
-Ga
₂
O
₃
/diamond in superjunction structures delivers even superior performance in these power converters.