Power semiconductor device: Past , Present,and the Future
Ichiro Omura
Kyushu Institute of Technology
JapanSince 1909

Plenary Talk Ⅱ [June 2 (Tue.) / 11:50~12:30]

Outline• Introduction:H. Ohashi et al. “Role of Simulation Technology for
the Progress in Power Devices and Their
Applications,” IEEE T-ED, Vol. 60, issue 2, 2013.

– Moore’s law– Power electronics trends and Negawatt cost

• Past and Present overview of power semiconductor– Dr. Newell prediction, 1973 talk in PESC
– Types of discrete devices• Present status explanation– Power MOSFET– IGBT– Lateral Device– Wafer technology (Silicon)– Simulation technology• FutureVision, theory and producing for ICT world“As we may think”
July 1945
Vannevar Bush
Steve Jobs
Claude Shannon

Ken Thompson John Backus
Dennis Ritchie

George Boole
Alan Turing
John von NeumannCharles Babbage

1965 - "Moore's Law"
Silicon Engine to drive ICT
Manufacturing cost percomponent

Gordon E. Moore

CMOS

Number of components
per integrated circuit

Integrated circuit patent in 1959

Robert Noyce

Toward digital cost free => ICT for everybody

“More-than-Moore”(MtM) White Paper
They are trying to change the game.

Is power electronics lessthan peripheral?

FOMs, Roadmaps, Trends for PE
Efficiency
Output Power Density

Cost , Reliability, Loss etc. inaddition to power density

H. Ohashi, Proc. of 4th Int. Conf. on Integrated Power
Systems, June 2006, Naples (Italy), pp. 153-156.

Prof. Kolar, ETH Zurich

Negawatt Cost ?

“Negawatt cost”
Key factor for energy saving by Power Elec.
Efficiency
Improvement

Prevalence(Cost reduction)

Negawatt cost definition
as index for wide use of PE
technology

Cost of generation ( US cent per watt)

Power generation cost comparison with Negawatt cos

COP3→COP6

Negawatt cost =Initial cost + Total maintenance cost
Saved power × Total operating time

Payback time of power electronics equipment
sufficiently competes with another renewable energyPower electronics and micro electronics
ServiceActuatingHigh speed
Lighting
communication
Heating
CloudDigital
EnergyInternet
Cooling
E-Storage network
network SNS
Powerelectronics
Legacy PowerElectronics

PowerCircuit,Control
Power
Semi.

Software,Sensing,Protocol
LSI,
Adv. CMOS

Microelectronics

Networking

Clustering

Legacy MicroElectronics
Integrating

HardwareNegawatt cost will be discussed up to network level.
I. Omura, SIIQ report, Oct. 2012, in JapaneseOutline• Introduction:– Moore’s law– Power electronics trends and Negawatt cost

• Past and Present overview of power semiconductor– Dr. Newell prediction, 1973 talk in PESC
– Types of discrete devices• Present status explanation– Power MOSFET– IGBT– Lateral Device– Wafer technology (Silicon)– Simulation technology• Future100 years of power device development(High voltage)
1940

Rotary converter

Electric Machinemm

1960

Mercury arc rectifier(AC-DC)1980

Thyristor
Gate turn-off Thyristor (GTO)(AC-DC/DC-AC)

ElectronicsNeutron doped FZ wafer(Tubes)Carrier lifetime control

2000

IGBT / IEGT(AC-DC/DC-AC)

Carrier Injection Enhancement

SiliconTechnology

0.1mm
10-100um

Edge termination technology
Chip Parallel operation
Cosmic ray

R&DThin wafer technology

Advanced
LSI Tech.
CMOS
DRAM

<1-10um

William E. Newell, 1973 PESC Keynote

POWER ELECTRONICS WILL IN FACT EMERGE AS A FULLFLEDGED DISCIPLINE AND PROFESSION OF THE FUTURE
1) Solid-state power control systems willcontinue to become increasingly prevalent,
supplanting electromechanical equipment,
and opening new applications never beforefeasible. Fewer and fewer new applications
can be satisfied by the efficiency, thedegree of control, the reliability, or theresponse speed obtainable from anything
but a solid-state switch.

2) Computer-oriented circuit analytical anddevice modeling techniques will be
developed and will displace present
Synopsys
design techniques, making possible
greater optimization, increased reliability,
and reduced cost in both standardized andcustom equipment.
Eventually the insight gained will lead to
new unified theoretical approaches suited
to the analog versus digital, time versus
frequency, device versus circuit, steadystate versus dynamic dilemmas whichconstrain present approaches. In otherwords, power electronics will have becomea discipline.

SilvacoAnsys3) As the dollar volume of the high-powersolid-state device market grows, greater
research and development in this area will bejustifiable. A thorough understanding of charge
dynamics and thermal flow will lead to new
and improved power device technology,
analogous to the rapid evolution which ischaracteristic of small-signal device
technology. Turn-off devices will becomecommonplace, and conventional devices will
be manufactured with smaller spreads in key
parameters to permit easier cascading inseries/parallel arrays.

4) Standardized, general-purpose switchingmodules will become available to serve a greater
variety of functions. Increased production runs
and the elimination of custom design of many
individual units will permit cost reductions without
sacrificing reliability. Most low-level control
circuits will be assembled from standard types ofintegrated or hybrid circuits.

5) University education
6) Professional society, conferenceTypes of power semiconductors(Switch)
IGBT

Power MOSFET
N-sourceSource

N-source

Gate

PN

P-well

N-sub

N-

N-baseP

P-emitter

N+Collector

Drain

GTO(GCT)

Bipolar Tr (BJT)
Base
P-baseN--collector
N+EmitterP

P-baseN-N-drift

Gate

Gate

N-emitter

EmitterP-baseN+

CathodeN

IGBT: Insulated
Gate Bipolar
Transistor
GTO: Gate
Turn-off
Thyristor
GCT: Gate
CommutatedTurn-off
Thyristor

N-emitterPP
N-baseN

N--

N+
CollectorPP-emitter
Anode

1. MOS-gate (voltage) control or bipolar gate (current) control
2. Unipolar conduction or bipolar conduction in high resistive layer(N-)

1988-Proc. of the IEEE
Power semiconductor Devices: An Overview
Phil Hower, Proc. of the IEEE, Vol. 76, No. 4, 1988

Many candidates in 1988

1996
GCTMinority carrier
control by MOSgate

1993 Injection Enhancement(Trench gate)

LTT

1998 Super-Junction

1. Majority carrier control by MOS channel
2. Increase in stored (conduction) charge
3. Integration (Gate drive circuit etc.)
See also, by the same author “Current Status andFuture Trends in Silicon Power Devices”, Tech. digest
IEDM 2010, pp. 13.1.1-13.1.4, 2010

Conductioncharge

IGBT: Insulated Gate Bipolar TransistorGTO: Gate Turn-off Thyristor
GCT: Gate Commutated Turn-off Thyristor

Types of Power Semiconductors
Highbipolar gate

LTTGCT/GTO

MOS-gate

System Power

Optturn-on

IGBT
Power
MOSFET

Low
High voltage
IGBT

IGBT: Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor
GTO: Gate Turn-off Thyristor
GCT: Gate Commutated Turn-off Thyristor
LTT: Light Triggered Thyrisotor (optical fiber coupled)• MOS gate devices cover wide-power
range.
• Bipolar gate devices cover very highpower applications(>10MW).

Silicon Power Devices(Switches)Power

MOSFET

650V-50A

Advanced
CMOS(FIVR)

200V-600V
5A-40A

IGBT
IGBT：Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor

4.5kV-2600A

Outline• Introduction:– Moore’s law– Power electronics trends and Negawatt cost

• Past and Present overview of power semiconductor– Dr. Newell prediction, 1973 talk in PESC
– Types of discrete devices• Present status explanation– Power MOSFET– IGBT– Lateral Device– Wafer technology (Silicon)– Simulation technology• FuturePower MOSFET

Low Voltage MOSFET (Vertical)
Fig from Lecture Slide byW. Saito, Toshiba
1000

N-source

Si-limit
RonA (mcm2）

GateSource

P-wellN-drift layer

1997

100

2002
1010.1102007
2012

1001000
Breakdown voltage (V)

1. Cell size reduction for channel density
2. Trench gate for channel density and JFET resistanceremoval
3. Charge compensate (Vertical Field Plate) technology
for drift resistance reduction.

DrainSuper Junction MOSFETFig from Lecture Slide by
W. Saito, Toshiba

DMOSFET

1000
1997

100

2002
1010.1102007
2012

100
1000
Breakdown voltage (V)P/N column drift layer
Easy to deplete for high impurity concentration
Low Ron + High Breakdown Voltage

Charge compensate (Super Junction)technology for drift resistance reduction.
=> Fabrication process challenge

SJ-MOSFET

On-resistance RonA(mcm2)

RonA (mcm2）

Si-limit

252015erghi
H10mluconngpiod5
VB=700V
00510152025

P/N column pitch (m)

30

IGBT
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor

IGBTEmitter

Ic

Rated Current Density(A/cm2)

500
Gate

Collector

Shen, Omura, “Power Semiconductor Devices for Hybrid,
Electric, and Fuel Cell Vehicles” Proc. Of the IEEE, Issue 4, 2007

300 Carrier enhancement effect
200Non latch-up IGBTVce

Protection
Thermal management
Thin wafer PT

Noise control

100IPM

Trench gate

NPT-IGBT50
1985

0.8V

High Temp.

Thin wafer NPT

1990

1995

2000

2005

Year

1. Bipolar Transistor + MOSFET (before IE-effect)
2. High current capability
3. ~0.8V collector-emitter threshold voltage for conduction
4. Medium switching speed (15kHz for motor drive, 100kHz for ICT
current supply and FPD driver )

2010

2015

Summary of IGBT Technology•Trench Gate for Low Vce(sat)–Electron injection enhancement and carrier
storing for higher carrier density–Reduction of channel resistance etc.

•Low Hole Injection P-emitter + Long Carrier
Lifetime– Reduction of turn-off tail current– Better thermal coefficient without carrier lifetime
killer•Thin Wafer TechnologyP-emitter– Reduction of turn-off tail current with short N-base– Reduction of conduction loss with short N-baseN-baseGate

Examples of High Power IGBT Package
Shen+Omura, Proc. of the IEEE, 2007

42 Chips

125mm
15mm

Shen, Omura, “Power Semiconductor Devices for Hybrid, Electric, and Fuel Cell Vehicles” Proc. Of the IEEE, Issue 4, 2007

Lateral Power Device

High compatibility to CMOS for highperformance and new functions
Power IC VBK in ISPSD papers

Future HV Power IC will be …

Digital Rich
Power ICISPSD 2010
Toronto Univ

Omura, ECPE workshop Jan. 2012
Ichiro Omura Kyushu Inst. Tech.

Higher power range to cover volume zone
Transmissions
High power motordrives

10000

HEV IPM
Industrial IPM

w
Po100sIC
er

Max(Vin, Vout)

Appliances

On board Power Supply

on

10Future HV Power IC will be …

esulod1000

M

High power
Industrial Drives
EV/HEVSOI single chip inverter

Voltage（V）

er sicw PImPo / Prahce orig
Hith atw uler
M nsw
IIPpo iPd Sde erol w
m Po Ber / Csf es n P
an ic oB
Tr devPCDIP IPM

Kilowatt
Power ICVicor VIChip

CPU Power Supply(POL)w
PoMobile Power Supply

Ser

Single chip power supply

oC

10.1

1

10

100

1000

Current（A）
Max(Iin, Iout)

Omura, CIPS Ichiro
2010Omura Kyushu Inst. Tech.

Heat pumping

High switching frequency for new applications

Future HV Power IC will be …

Mega-HzPower IC

Saito et al.(Toshiba) PESC 2008
Electrode-less lamp with GaN-HEMT (Toshiba)Wafer technology

Silicon wafer trend

Strong productivity of wafer to meet huge demands

Silicon wafer technology
Productivity>300mm, CZ, MCZ
1200V IGBT
1200V PiN diodeLarge Market, Short time to market

Low voltage commodity

Material (wafer) engineering will share the major
Lowfabrication
voltage highandspec
part of total power device design,
PE application
High voltage power MOS

6500V PiN diode6500V IGBT
Thyrisotrs

Special Power Devices

Quality
Smaller Market, Long termLong carrier lifetime
150-200mm FZ

Functionality
Integration, Game change
Epi, SOI, SJ-structure etc(Pre-structured wafer)Synopsys

Tanaka ISPSD 2015

Simulation technology

SilvacoAnsys

Simulation Technology advancement
and new device R&D
Device failure simulation
IGBT compact model
Non-latch-up IGBT simulation
2-D Guard-ring simulation
1-D Thyristor numerical simulation
1-D PiN diode numerical simulation
Analytical equation model

Rated Power based ondata sheet (W)

100MLight Trigger Thyristor

IGBT (PPI)

10M
Thyristor
1M

100k

10k
1960

Gate
Turn-off
Thyristor

IGBT (module)

Bipolar
Transistor

1970

Based on Toshiba
Data Sheets1990

1980
Year20002010

Simulation technology
H Ohashi, I Omura - IEEE transactions on electron devices, 2013

Tanaka ISPSD 2015

 Virtual prototyping and testing Power electronics system design
 Hardware embedded (real-time) simulation
See also Prof. Wachutka, ISPSD 2014 Plenary

Outline• Introduction:– Moore’s law– Power electronics trends and Negawatt cost

• Past and Present overview of power semiconductor– Dr. Newell prediction, 1973 talk in PESC
– Types of discrete devices• Present status explanation– Power MOSFET– IGBT– Lateral Device– Wafer technology (Silicon)– Simulation technology• FutureAdvanced power devices Road map
DiamondWide band-gap semiconductor
Platform (SiC::2010 ～、GaN::2015 ～Diamond::2025～）

FET/ BJT/PiN/Fieldemitter

SiC

Hybrid pair platform of Si-switching
device and SiC diode (2013～2035）

SiC

IGBT/PiN

MOS/SIT/SBD

Silicon platform (～2030）

GaN
HEMT/MOS/SBD
GaAs-FET
Si-IGBT

SiC-SBD, SiC-PiN
Power
Power
Integrated
Si-MOS(SJ)
Integrated
Circuit area SiC-SBD
Circuit area
Silicon
IGBT, Thyristor/PiN

Silicon
CMOS, MOSFET (SJ)/SBD, PiN
1101001k

Blocking voltage [v]10k

H. Ohashi et al. “Role of Simulation Technology for the Progress in Power Devices and Their Applications,” IEEE
SSDM 2012, Kyoto
T-ED, Vol. 60, issue 2, 2013.

Future possibility• 1) Si-power devices still have much room for development toward ultimate
MOSFETs and IGBTs.
• 2) The combination of Si-switching devices and SiC freewheeling diodes will
be a significant step not only for strengthening the SiC market but also for Sidevice development.
• 3) Si-IGBT will be replaced by SiC MOSFET in the voltage range of more than
1000 V in some applications, and SiC-IGBT has the potential to be used for
applications of more than 10 kV. (Si-IGBT for volume market, SiC for high endmarket)• 4) GaN power devices will replace some of Si-power ICs and will be used forfaster switching applications.
• 5) The unique properties of diamond have potential for new power devices
particularly in high-voltage applications.
• 6) The ultimate CMOS has the potential to be used for power integrated
devices in ICT applications.
H Ohashi, I Omura - IEEE transactions on electron devices, 2013

H. Ohashi et al. “Role of Simulation Technology for
the Progress in Power Devices and TheirApplications,” IEEE T-ED, Vol. 60, issue 2, 2013.