ABSTRACT & BIOGRAPHY
Overview of Silicon Power Devices: History, Trends and Outlook
Abstract:
The power device market has been steadily expanding toward carbon neutrality, and continuous growth is expected in the future. While wide-bandgap semiconductor power devices, such as SiC and GaN, have been commercialized and are experiencing rapid market growth, they have yet to surpass silicon power devices in market share. Even in 2030, silicon power devices are projected to account for more than 80% of the market.
In this lecture, an overview of silicon power devices, covering their history, trends, and future outlook, is provided. One key aspect of power electronics development is the increasing power density of systems. Power device performance improvements have significantly contributed to this trend, and the evolution of device structures and advancements in process technologies that have driven these improvements are discussed. Additionally, recent R&D efforts aimed at further enhancing performance, as well as the transition to larger wafer diameters of 300 mm to expand production capacity, are introduced.
Biography:
Wataru Saito received the B. Eng., M. Eng., and Dr. of Eng. degrees in electrical and electronics engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, in 1994, 1996, and 1999, respectively. From 1999 to 2009, he was with Toshiba Corporation, Kawasaki, Japan, where he was engaged in the development of power semiconductor devices. Since 2019, he has been a professor at Kyushu University, Kasuga, Japan. His current research interests include basic research on next-generation power semiconductor devices, including related application technologies. Prof. Saito is an Editor for IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices and a committee member of the Power Devices and ICs Committee of the IEEE Electron Devices Society.
