Power semiconductors: Switching lots of watts at high speeds: State-of-the-art development yields solid-state devices capable of handling over 10 million watts

Today the frontier in power electronics lies in high-frequency switching applications, such as variable-frequency ac motor drives and solid-state lamp ballasts. Several new power devices have been developed in the semiconductor industry to meet this challenge. In particular, power MOSFETs capable of efficient high-frequency switching at several kilowatts have been announced by many companies. The operational ratings of these devices should grow rapidly and, although commercial power MOSFETs have been available for only three years, it is already clear that they will displace the bipolar transistor in many high-frequency applications. Several other power devices under development at various laboratories are also expected to find a niche in the high-frequency spectrum.