Key power semiconductor devices and development trends

System integration and high power density of monolithic and multi-chip designs are the driving force for the progress in power electronic systems. The whole system has to be considered and optimized to meet this target and to keep the overall ruggedness, sensitivity towards EMI and long term reliability, Silicon utilization, system reliability and power units miniaturization are the key factors. New system trends are going towards high switching frequency reducing or eliminating bulky magnetics and capacitances as well as soft switching topologies for higher efficiency and low harmonics. In many fields of applications there are huge requirements towards system dynamic characteristics, overload capability, device ruggedness and build in reliability. There is a tendency towards higher operating temperature ratings. To control the energy flow precisely and high efficient from the source to the load the key components are the IGBT's, superjunction devices, low voltage MOSFET's and SiC. Beside the chip development a more significant attention will be paid on packaging, contacting and interfacing technologies to meet the future requirements towards ruggedness, system compatibility and reliability. Considering the roadmap for silicon device developments the key part in the future will be how to manage the interference of device and system parasitics, thermal issues and the extreme fast switching speed.