Volume 35 Issue 1 2013 executiveview By Jay Shah, Worldwide Marketing Operations, Keithley Instruments, Inc. Capable power semiconductor testing solutions required


Power semiconductors will become more important in 2013 given the burgeoning demand for efficient energy production and management. With fossil fuel prices remaining volatile, there is renewed focus on green energy sources like solar power and wind farms. The demand for efficiency management in motor drivers, lighting, and power supplies is rising, which in turn drives demand for power semiconductor devices. The developers of test and measurement instrumentation have a responsibility to help their customers meet the challenges that come with researching (universities/labs) and building (fabs) the next generation of power devices.


As power semiconductor manufacturers have continued to explore wide-bandgap alternatives to traditional silicon-based devices, testing these devices has become increasingly challenging. Higher voltage ratings, higher peak current ratings, and lower leakage specifications, made possible by the use of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), are complicating design, characterization, and testing.


From a characterization and test perspective, SiC and GaN require far more powerful instrumentation than silicon-based technologies ever did. Devices based on these materials typically have much higher power density, smaller size, better high temperature performance, higher frequency response, lower leakage, and lower ON resistance than their silicon equivalents, all of which add up to greater operating efficiency. They also have far lower leakage than silicon, so at the same time as there is a need for sourcing higher voltages in testing; there is also a need for greater current measurement sensitivity.


News Editor Dr. Su Westwater Director of SOLAR & SEMI Publishing Jackie Cannon Senior Sales Executive Robin Halder Sales Manager Shehzad Munshi USA Representatives Tom Brun Brun Media Janice Jenkins Director of Logistics Sharon Cowley Design & Production Manager Mitchell Gaynor Circulation Director Jan Smoothy suwestwater@angelbc.co.uk


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Issue I 2013 www.siliconsemiconductor.net 3


For all their technical advantages, there are a variety of barriers to the mass adoption of SiC and GaN devices, the most significant of which is price. Making these devices more affordable will depend on manufacturers’ ability to improve material quality and processing efficiency, both of which require intensive characterization and testing.


Solutions such as custom systems that attempt to integrate power sources with current measurement instruments simply can’t provide the low current accuracy required to characterize next-generation devices and materials. As single-quadrant devices, power supplies cannot sink power; therefore, they require several seconds for the capacitance charge to bleed off after testing, which slows the test process, which is particularly problematic in production applications. In addition, in many cases, they lack the necessary power to support today’s operating or characterization levels. Such custom-designed systems also typically require large test engineering teams to develop and maintain them.


Although commercial ATE systems have always been used for power semi production test, their cost, size, and lack of characterization and low current measurement capabilities make them impractical for R&D and QA/FA applications. Curve tracers were once the solution of choice for device characterization, but they are now largely unavailable. Fortunately, a number of T&M innovators, including Keithley Instruments, have begun applying the integrated sourcing and measurement capabilities of high-power SMU (source measure unit) instruments to this challenge.


Subscriptions Manager Debbie Higham Chief Operating Officer Stephen Whitehurst


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Directors Bill Dunlop Uprichard – CEO, Stephen Whitehurst – COO, Jan Smoothy – CFO, Jackie Cannon, Scott Adams, Sharon Cowley, Sukhi Bhadal


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