RAP sessions & professional education seminars
Learn more about the professional education seminars that Infineon participated in on Sunday, March 16 and Monday, March 17, 2025.
And, the RAP sessions on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
Professional education seminars
S07: GaN 101: An introduction to gallium nitride transistors, how they are made, and how to use them
Sunday, March 16 from 2:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Fundamentals Track
This seminar will provide a comprehensive introduction to gallium nitride power transistors and how to effectively design with them. Migrating power electronics designs from conventional transistors to new wide bandgap devices can pose many challenges. This is exaggerated even further with GaN, because the HEMT is a fundamentally different type of transistor from a MOSFET. A firm background in the comparative device physics between Si/SiC MOSFETs and GaN HEMTs helps to make sense of the new recommended design approach. Part I of this seminar will cover the device background, walking through a typical GaN datasheet and explaining it in the context of how the device works. Part II will build on this background with a step-by-step system design approach for GaN, including PCB layout, gate driving, and paralleling. The seminar will conclude with a quick look at some interesting new directions such as bidirectional GaN transistors and monolithic integration, as well as some key applications where GaN adds the highest value.
Presenters: Edward Jones, Principal Engineer in GaN Application Development, and Nicholas Dellas, Lead Principal Engineer; Infineon Technologies Austria AG, Austria
Monday, March 17 from 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Simulation & Modeling Track
One of the key challenges facing power electronic engineers is how to determine what the losses will be in their converter circuit, in order to compare and assess various topology and control options, without having to actually build and test all of them. This topic is increasingly relevant as conversion efficiency continues to rise into the mid and even upper 90% range. Rough calculations are no longer good enough, as every watt needs to be accounted for and understood. This seminar focuses on the switching power transistors, particularly the high-voltage devices in the 400 – 1200 V range used in many applications today. Designers expect that they can enter a schematic into a simulation environment, and get an accurate result easily. But the reality is typically not so simple, and the results are often inaccurate. We will cover the fundamentals of switching loss, the detailed switching and conduction loss mechanisms specific to newer wide-bandgap devices, how the manufacturers measure loss and what is included on datasheets, what loss mechanisms are included in various device models, how they are accounted for, and finally how well do modeled losses compare to real-world circuit measurements. We will conclude with a summary and recommendations on best-practices for getting the most useful results.
Presenters: Eric Persson, Senior Principal Engineer, Infineon Technologies, United States, and Mladen Ivankovic, Senior Principal Engineer for Power Systems and Sensors, Infineon Technologies, Canada
Debate (RAP) sessions
Tuesday, March 18, 2025 from 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Location: Room A411
Chair: Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, Editor & Technical Writer, AspenCore Power Electronics News
Panelists:
- Thomas Neyer, Senior Vice President GaN, Infineon
- Mrinal Das, Sr. Director of Solutions Engineering and Marketing, Power Solutions Group, onsemi
- Alex Lidow, CEO, Efficient Power Conversion (EPC)
- Kevin Speer, Technology Director – Silicon Carbide Business Unit, Microchip Technology
Abstract: This session will delve into the evolving dynamics between Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN), two transformative wide bandgap technologies in power conversion. The growing overlap in their applications as GaN moves to higher voltage ranges will be the key point of discussion. We will discuss important and contentious issues, such as determining which technology offers superior figures of merit, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. We will also address critical factors such as the differences in substrate materials and manufacturing complexities, which significantly influence performance, scalability, and cost. During this session, we will examine various points to uncover the challenges and opportunities for SiC and GaN in sectors like renewable energy, industrial applications, and automotive, and how these factors will shape the future of power electronics.