A Comparative Study on Different Semiconductor Materials used for Power Devices and Its Applications

It is interesting to note that the modern technology evolution in power electronics has generally followed the evolution of power semiconductor devices, constitute the core of recent power electronic device. They are used in power electronic converters in the form of a matrix of on-off switches, converters are widely used in applications such as heating and lighting controls, ac and dc power supplies, electrochemical processes, dc and ac motor drives, static VAR generation, active harmonic filtering, etc. Although the cost of power semiconductor devices in power electronic equipment may hardly exceed 20–30 percent, the total equipment cost and performance may be highly influenced by the characteristics of the devices. Power devices require a high blocking voltage in the off state, a low forward voltage drop in the on state and a sensibly high maximum operating frequency. An engineer designing equipment must understand the devices and their characteristics thoroughly in order to design efficient, reliable, and cost-effective systems with optimum performance.. The expansion of microelectronics has greatly contributed to the knowledge of power device materials, processing, fabrication, packaging, modelling, and simulation