electronics in motion and conversion august 2010 · zkz 64717 08-10 issn: 1863-5598 electronics in...
TRANSCRIPT
ZKZ 64717
08-10ISSN: 1863-5598
Electronics in Motion and Conversion August 2010
New High Power DriverLaunching the next generation of high voltage IGBT gate drivers, CONCEPT introduces two new top class products – 1SP0635 and 1SP0335 - with an outstanding performance to cost ratio. Consequent integration enables cost down by40%
2C) assures excellent electrical performance and
-vers are the perfect choice for high performance traction application, high power inverter and medium voltage drives.
Features
2CGate voltage monitoring
2-level and multilevel topologies
Long service life
www.IGBT-Driver.com
SAMPLES AVAILABLE!
CT-Concept Technologie AG, Renferstrasse 15, CH-2504 Biel, Switzerland, Phone +41-32-344 47 47
UndisputedCompetence!
Paralleling with 1SP0335
www.bodospower.com August 2010www.bodospower.com August 2010
Viewpoint
Baldness and the Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-8
Blue Product of the Month
Versatile Inverter Platform from 150 kVA to 3 MVA
Semikron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Green Product of the Month
900A Current Transducer Sets Benchmark for Accuracy and Drift
LEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Guest Editorial
Megatrends: Tailwinds for Growth and Innovation
By Ralf J. Muenster, Director Strategy and Business Development, National Semiconductor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Experts View
Reducing Power Consumption: A Major Driver of the Global Semiconductor Recovery
By Dave Bell, Chief Executive Officer, Intersil Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Market
Electronics Industry Digest
By Aubrey Dunford, Europartners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Market
How Will the Smart Grid Change Electronic Equipment Design?
Linnea Brush,Senior Research Analyst, Darnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-21
Cover Story
Advancing Silicon Performance Beyond the Capabilities of Discrete Power MOSFETs
By Jeff Sherman, Product Marketing Engineer, and Juan Herbsommer, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Texas Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-24
Motion Control
For Wishes Big and Small
By Thomas Grasshoff, Head of Product Management International, Semikron . . . . . . . 26-28
Lighting
Driving an HID Lamp
By Tom Ribarich, Director, Lighting Systems, International Rectifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29-31
Technology
Cu bonds and chip-to substrate joints beyond silver sintering
By Piotr Luniewski, Karsten Guth, Dirk Siepe, Infineon Technologies AG . . . . . . . . . . . 32-33
Lighting
Streetlighting Requires Large Numbers of LEDs
By Christopher Richardson, Systems Applications Engineer for Lighting, National Semiconductor Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34-36
New Materials
Silicon Carbide Power Electronics Modules for High Temperature Applications (> 200 °C)
By Edgar Cilio and Alex Lostetter APEI, Inc. USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37-39
Protection
Fast Grounding Keeps Aircraft Flying
By Matt Ellis, Senior Engineer, Syfer Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40-42
New Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43-48
Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com2
TThhee GGaalllleerryy
Next generation inverter designs for renewable energy applications demand
reliable DC link capacitors with higher capacitance values, voltage, and cur-
rent ratings. Now available in new case sizes, Cornell Dubilier’s expanded
range of Type 947C power film capacitors meet or exceed the requirements
for bulk energy storage, ripple filtering and life expectancy for wind and
solar power inverter designs, as well as electric vehicle applications. Select
from hundreds of standard catalog listings, or connect with CDE engineers to
develop special designs to your requirements.
For sample requests or more technical information, visit www.cde.com/bodo
C A PAC I TO R S O L U T I O N S F O R P OW E R E L E C T R O N I C S
���������� ����������� �
TYPE 947C POWER FILM CAPACITORS
85, 90 & 116 mm CASE SIZES
CAPACITANCE VALUES TO 1500 μF
APPLIED VOLTAGE TO 1300 Vdc
RIPPLE CURRENT RATINGS TO 100 Arms
M O R E O P T I O N S F O R P O W E R E L E C T R O N I C S
Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
My head
requires sun
protection
when I drive
my old Beatle
convertible.
Ingrid would
like to see
me riding my
bike more
instead
where at
least my bike
helmet offered protection. My argument now
is that I get just as much fresh air in my Bea-
tle. Although the sun is good, I do have to
protect my head. For a long time, my NY
Yankees cap did a splendid job.
More recently, the Boston Red Socks joined
in, and now the Angels, known “officially” as
the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Many
years ago, they were the California Angels,
and then the Anaheim Angels. In 2005 their
owner Arte Moreno, hoping to grab an
increased share of the baseball fan base in
greater Los Angeles, changed their name to
the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
My new cap arrived by Fedex delivery from
Matt Verona’s desk at Orthodyne. Matt and I
had a nice chat at the SMT in Nuremberg.
He had asked me about the Yankees Cap
and I responded with the story of getting
sunburned in the convertible and needing to
protect my bald spot.
Anaheim, home of Disneyland, is where the
Angels have their stadium. Walt Disney was
a visionary, building the imaginative Disney-
land in Anaheim, and attracting kids and
adults from everywhere. Then came Disney
World in Orlando Florida, and now Disney
Lands or Worlds can be found worldwide.
Another visionary, Nicolas Hayek, died on
Monday June 28th in Biel, Switzerland.
Years ago I was involved in a project for his
company to develop the small Smart Car as
a hybrid-electric. At that time Harris had very
efficient and fast IGBTs, perfect for the elec-
tric motor inverter drive. During one of my
visits to Biel, I happened to meet Mr. Hayek
in the R&D department. Hayek's imagination
in the production of watches had helped to
reestablish the watch industry in Switzer-
land. His Swatch watches spread the world
over. I was very impressed to see him pay-
ing such close attention to the design
aspects of the smart hybrid project.
I was working in Application Engineering at
Harris, getting the right IGBTs in place to
have a successful electric drive train for the
smart-hybrid. A great deal of progress was
achieved and I fondly remember test driving
the four wheel drive smart car in the city of
Biel. Swatch had assembled a great team in
Biel but it was in the early 90s and, unfortu-
nately, ahead of its time. Now time has
caught up on Mr. Hayek’s vision, with Daim-
ler Benz reconsidering electric versions of
the Smart.
I still visit Biel to see Mr. Rüedi from CT
Concept and talk about IGBTs and their gate
drive. Now the driver boards from CT Con-
cept are all over in the world. Another vision
that has become reality.
So what we need is imagination and vision
to attract capable people and move good
projects forward but visionaries also need
financial support to do so.
Anyway, back to my “A” cap, locals in LA call
them the "Angels" and I hope they will be
very proud to see their cap and logo on the
inside of my magazine. I have to stop by in
LA the next time I am there and maybe
watch an American football game, a wel-
come change after the many soccer games I
watched during the recent world cup.
Including this August issue - delivered, as
always, on time – we will have produced a
total of 470 pages this year: strong perform-
ance due to strong support.
My Green Power Tip for August:
If the temperature gets too high, take time off
from your hard work and relax. Catch up
with work after it cools down. You could save
running your air conditioners so much.
It is still summer, hope to see you at the
beach!
Best regards
Sunshine and Baldness
V I E W P O I N T
4
A MediaKatzbek 17a
D-24235 Laboe, Germany
Phone: +49 4343 42 17 90
Fax: +49 4343 42 17 89
www.bodospower.com
Publishing EditorBodo Arlt, [email protected]
Creative Direction & ProductionRepro Studio Peschke
Free Subscription to qualified readers
Bodo´s Power Systems
is available for the following
subscription charges:
Annual charge (12 issues) is 150 €
world wide
Single issue is 18 €
circulation
printrun
25000
Printing by:
Central-Druck Trost GmbH & Co
Heusenstamm, Germany
A Media and Bodos Power Systems
assume and hereby disclaim any
liability to any person for any loss or
damage by errors or omissions in the
material contained herein regardless of
whether such errors result from
negligence accident or any other cause
whatsoever.
EventsDigital Power WorkshopsStockholm Sweden Aug. 24
http://www.biricha.com
EPE-PEMC Ohrid Macedonia Sep. 6-8
http://www.epe-pemc2010.com
Solar Energy Valencia Spain Sep. 6-10
http://www.photovoltaic-conference.com
Husum Wind Energy Ger. Sep. 21-25
http://www.husumwindenergy.com
Innotrans Berlin Ger. Sep. 21-24
http://www.innotrans.com
Digital Power Workshops Munich Ger. Oct. 5
http://www.biricha.com
NDT Level 4 Dubai. Oct. 11
http://www.ndtlevel4.com
Elektro Mobil Ausstellung Aschaffenburg
Ger. Oct. 8-9 http://www.ema-ab.de
Semicon Europa Dresden Ger. Oct. 19-21
http://www.semiconeuropa.org
Substation Technology Europe Berlin Ger.
Oct. 25-27 http://www.theiet.org/substation
Electronica Munich Ger. Nov 9-12
http://www.electronica.de/en
SPS/IPC/DRIVES Nürnberg Ger. Nov 23-25
http://www.mesago.de/en/SPS/main.htm
MAKING MODERN LIVING POSSIBLE
DAN FO S S S I L I CON POWER SILICONPOWER.DANFOSS.COM
The future of cool designMove into the fast lane with customized power modules
offering: Low weight, compact design, extended life and very low life cycle costs.In short, when you choose Danfoss Silicon Power as your supplier you choose a thoroughly tested solution with unsur-passed power density. Day in and day out. Please go to siliconpower.danfoss.com for more information.
It cannot be stressed enough: Efficient cooling is the most important feature in power modules. Danfoss Silicon Power’s cutting-edge ShowerPower® solution is designed to secure an even cooling across base plates. In addition, our modules can be customized to meet your automotive requirements in detail,
ShowerPower®
6 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
N E W S
Rogers Corporation a global leader in the
development and manufacture of high per-
formance engineered materials, has recently
received two award honors from the Chinese
government.
The first award, “Level A Credit Company for
Labor Security”, was given to Rogers for its
labor compliance and positive management
of its employees. The award is based on
Rogers having met or exceeded labor com-
pliance requirements during the last two
years, including cooperation with the local
Chinese labor union and the high audit
scores Rogers received related to labor
compliance audits. Only 132 companies of
the 17,000 doing business in the Suzhou
Industrial Park (SIP) received the Level A
award. Suzhou Industrial Park is a planned
industrial, commercial and residential com-
munity where thousands of companies,
including many of the largest corporations in
the world, have established facilities.
The Level A recognition permits award win-
ners to extend labor-related permits by one
year and to use a streamlined method for
future labor audits, which reduces the fre-
quency of audits. The Level A award also
allows recipient companies to market this
recognition, which can be used to help
attract high caliber employees to the Compa-
ny.
The second award, “Jiangsu Provincial May
1, 2010 Honorary Labor Medal”, was given
to Rogers’ Vice President of Asia, Michael
Sehnert, by the Jiangsu Labor Union Bureau
for outstanding performance, achievement
and contribution to society in Jiangsu
Province. Nomination of Mr. Sehnert was
made by the Suzhou Industrial Park where
Rogers’ main campus in China is located.
www.rogerscorp.com
Award Honors from the Chinese Government
CUI Inc
announced that
it received an
award for
Exceptional
Sales Perfor-
mance Driven by
Superior
Engagement
from their distrib-
utor Digi-Key.
This award rec-
ognizes the unique partnership between CUI
and the distributor, and the exceptional dedi-
cation the two companies have towards
servicing their customers together.
“Digi-Key has been our sole distribution part-
ner for over 20 years, and with the innova-
tive programs and mutual approach towards
the business relationship, we are realizing
incredible success this year and expect this
to continue well into the future,” stated CUI’s
VP of Worldwide Sales, Mark Adams.
CUI product sales through Digi-Key are up
+39% in Q1 2010 in comparison to Q1 2009.
Furthermore, CUI added 5,000 additional
customer site engagements in the same time
period.
“We are proud to present CUI with an award
recognizing a partnership of high-level global
engagement,” said Jeff Shafer, Digi-Key’s
Vice President of Interconnect, Passive and
Electromechanical Product. “We look for-
ward to continuing a successful partnership
with CUI,” concluded Shafer.
Adams affirmed, “Digi-Key is not our distribu-
tor, they are our partner. When we work with
Digi-Key, we try to approach the business
relationship from a direction different than
any other manufacturer/distributor.”
CUI designs, manufactures, and markets
electro-mechanical components for the OEM
manufacturer in the fields of power electron-
ics, motion control, interconnect, and
acoustic technologies.
www.cui.com
Exceptional Sales Performance Award
Batterien-Montage-Zentrum (BMZ), Europe’s
leading system supplier for rechargeable
battery packs and Cham Battery, a Chinese
battery manufacturer, have signed an exten-
sive cooperation agreement. Within the
framework of the future cooperation, BMZ
will not only use Cham Battery’s high-quality,
high-energy and high-current cells, based on
various lithium-ion technologies, in their own
battery packs, but furthermore will also take
over marketing and sales of the battery cells
in Europe as representative and distributor.
Cham Battery, founded in 2003, is the first
and so far only Chinese company that is
specialized entirely on development and
manufacturing of high-quality cylindrical lithi-
um manganese, lithium nickel cobalt man-
ganese and lithium iron phosphate cells of
size 18650.
Photo caption: Seeking to jointly serve the
European market with high-quality Chinese
lithium-ion cells (from left): Winnie Yan, gen-
eral manager international sales department
at Cham Battery and Timo Stegmann, Cham
Battery line manager at BMZ.
www.bmz-gmbh.eu
High-Current and High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Cells
Cornell Dubilier has acquired the Panasonic
electrolytic foil formation facility in Knoxville,
Tennessee. Last year this facility produced
10 percent of the world’s electrolytic foil with
the industry’s most modern and efficient
equipment.
“This acquisition guarantees Cornell Dubilier
a consistent supply of our most critical raw
material. With this resource our customers
will continue to receive our highest level of
service and perhaps the most competitive
lead times in the industry,” says Jim Kaplan,
President of Cornell Dubilier.
“With worldwide shortages of electrolytic foil
and long term allocations of this material,
Cornell Dubilier’s continued growth was
becoming unsustainable. This addition of
the foil facility will significantly reduce these
lead times, secure our supply chain and give
Cornell Dubilier a stronger leadership posi-
tion in the global electrolytic market.”
www.cde.com
Acquisition of Aluminum Foil Formation Facility
Time for electronics. Time for the future.
Key topics, trends and technologies. The latest components, systems and applications.
Visit electronica 2010, the international trade fair that will show you today what is
important tomorrow and generate momentum for real growth.
Parallel event: hybridica. Trade fair for hybrid-component production. www.hybridica.de
get the whole picture
e-MobilityAutomotive Displays / e-Signage Medical / MEMS PhotovoltaicsEmbedded systems / software
24th International Trade Fair
New Munich Trade Fair Centre
09–12 November 2010
Register online and enjoy the benefi ts: www.electronica.de/en/tickets
electronica 2010components | systems | applications
www.electronica.de/en
the possibilities of tomorrow.
explore
100210 e2010Dach-stoer_BodoPowSys_210x297_E.indd 1 17.05.10 13:39
8 Bodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
N E W S
Tired of dealing with tangled cables and heavy power bricks when
recharging your smart phone, notebook PC or digital camera?
Then help is on the way, with a flood of electronic products with wire-
less charging capability arriving on the market in the coming years,
causing global shipments of such solutions to soar to 234.9 million
units in 2014, up by a factor of 65 from 3.6 million in 2010, according
to iSuppli Corp.
The attached figure presents iSuppli’s forecast of worldwide ship-
ments of product-specific wireless charging solutions. Product-specif-
ic wireless charging systems consist of a charger as well as a so-
called “skin” or receiver sold for specific devices. These product-spe-
cific devices contrast with aftermarket solutions, which comprise uni-
versal chargers and various skins that can be utilized with multiple
consumer electronics.3
www.isuppli.com
Wireless Charging Market Expand by Factor of 70 in 2014
0
50
100
150
200
250
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Mill
ions
ofU
nits
iSuppli Figure: Product-Specific Wireless Charging Solutions Forecast, 2009-2014 (Millions of Units)
After months of research, planning and development, power supply
manufacturer TDK-Lambda is pleased to announce the relaunch of
its website, www.de.tdk-lambda.com. More informative and user-
friendly, the new website brings improved navigation and design, as
well as introducing new features.
“We are committed to providing our customers with easy access to
the technical information they require, and I believe our new website
fulfils their needs,” says Martin Southam, Director of Marketing for
TDK-Lambda Europe. New search functions enable quick selection
of power supplies according to power rating, mounting style or appli-
cation and each product page has direct access to all related techni-
cal documentation. In addition, TDK-Lambda’s familiar Rapid Selec-
tors have been enhanced; by simply providing a few key criteria on
the power supply required, the Rapid Selector quickly creates a
shortlist from which to choose. There are many ranges available
through the AC-DC and DC-DC power supply selectors, with new
products being added as soon as they become available.
www.emea.tdk-lambda.com
TDK-Lambda Transforms its Website
The world´s largest exhibition for the solar
industry, Intersolar Europe, clearly exceeded
the expectations of the organizers. Around
72,000 visitors from around 150 nations visit-
ed Intersolar Europe at the New Munich
Trade Fair Center. 1,880 exhibitors present-
ed their products and services on 134,000
m² of exhibition area covering twelve halls
and the connected outdoor area.
The world's largest exhibition for the solar
industry, Intersolar Europe, ended with new
record numbers on Friday. Markus Elsässer,
Managing Director of Solar Promotion
GmbH, Pforzheim, one of the two organizers
of Intersolar Europe, is more than satisfied:
“The overwhelming success of Intersolar
Europe 2010 can be summed up with one
word: a world champion! The number of visi-
tors exceeded our wildest expectations.
According to the preliminary results we were
able to welcome around 72,000 visitors – an
increase of around 23 percent of the previ-
ous year. Intersolar Europe thus sends a
strong signal from Munich to the solar indus-
try around the world.”
It is not just the number of visitors that has
risen - the number of exhibitors at Intersolar
Europe has also gone up considerably: This
year, 1,880 companies presented their inno-
vations in Munich – 33% more than last
year. The growth was also expressed in an
expansion of the exhibition area: the exhibit-
ing companies occupied 29% more exhibi-
tion space than in 2009: 134,000 m².
www.intersolar.de
Record Number of Visitors at Intersolar Europe
The wind turbines project from Electrawinds
(the pioneering Belgian wind-farm provider)
with carbon consultancy support of CO²logic
(European carbon consultancy) will provide
clean energy to the football world cup via
South Africa’s first ever wind-farm. During
the course of the tournament, Electrawinds
offers one month of energy produced by the
fledgling clean energy plant to the Nelson
Mandela Bay Football Stadium, which will
play host to England and Germany group
games, as well as a quarter final match.
The wind farm based in Port Elizabeth,
which will eventually contain 25 VESTAS
V90 turbines with a total power of 45 MW,
has been under construction since May.
The first of the 95 meter high turbines, with a
total power of 1.8 MW, has now been com-
pleted and is ready to provide 5,700,000
kWh annually for at least 1629 South African
families (based on average consumption of
3500 kWh/family in EU). The total carbon
reductions created by this single turbine will
offset the emissions required to fly more
than 68,700 fans from London to the World
cup final in Johannesburg.
www.electrawinds.be
www.co2logic.com
First Wind-Farm to Power Football World Cup
Make a note in your diary now:HUSUM WindEnergy 2010, 21 – 25 September
A co-operation between
www.husumwindenergy.com
From 21 to 25 September 2010 Husum will once again be the centre of the wind energy world. 800 exhibitors and 31,000 wind energy experts from 70 nations is impressive proof of the importance of HUSUM WindEnergy as the world’s leading wind energy trade fair.
Plan your visit now, and be there when the decision makers from all branches of the wind industry come together in Husum.
© to
pfot
o/ph
otoc
ase.
com
10 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
B L U E P R O D U C T O F T H E M O N T H
Versatile Inverter Platform from 150 kVA to 3 MVA
For AC/DC drives, wind power and general power conversion applications more than 12 kVA / litre
The Semikron Solution Centers introduce
SKiiPRACK, a high power converter/inverter
platform for industrial applications, including
AC/DC drives, wind power, industrial power
supplies and power conversion applications,
configurable for power ratings ranging from
150 kVA up to 3 MVA. With a power density
of more than 12 kVA / litre, SKiiPRACK
boasts a design which is typically 25 % more
compact than competitor products. A single 3
MVA three phase inverter or 1.5 MVA three
phase four quadrant converter can be
installed into a standard 600 mm x 600 mm
x 2000 mm cabinet. Larger configurations
such as a 3 MVA four quadrant converter
can be realized by mounting the SKiiPRACK
side by side in a larger cabinet.
The modular SKiiPRACK phase block
assembly is available in different versions
which are connected together to configure a
complete converter/inverter as per the cus-
tomer’s requirement. Each phase assembly
comprises a water-cooled cooling plate, one
or two SKiiP IGBT intelligent power modules,
snubbers, a capacitor bank and a low-
inductance DC bus bar housed in a rigid
mechanical frame with a sliding mechanism
for ease of servicing in case of field replace-
ment.
The SKiiPRACK platform undergoes a rigor-
ous qualification process. One example of
the range of arduous type tests applied to
the SKiiPRACK is 100 times thermal cycles
of ten hours duration each in accordance
with IEC60068-2-14. Other tests including
environmental, shock and vibration, addition-
al to the normal electrical and isolation tests
ensures the overall ruggedness of the
SKiiPRACK.
A variety of phase assembly configurations
are available. For example a singular phase
assembly can contain four x
SKiiP1213GB123 to realize a complete three
phase inverter plus brake chopper at
450kVA. Alternatively at the high end of the
power scale one phase assembly can con-
tain two x SKiiP2403GB172 connected in
parallel to form one phase of a 3 MVA invert-
er, with three of these phase assemblies
mounted in one cabinet forming a complete
three phase converter/inverter. Low induc-
tance DC busbars link the phase assemblies
together and the AC connections can either
be made at the front of each phase assem-
bly or at the bottom rear of the complete
assembly facilitated via interconnecting AC
busbars.
A choice of either electrolytic capacitors, or
polypropylene capacitors for long lifetime, is
available. The SKiiPRACK is available as
individual phase assemblies that can be
mounted into a cabinet, or already mounted
into a standard electrical cabinet.
SKiiPRACK capitalizes on the low-induc-
tance and power density of SKiiP which is
20% higher than competitor products. Each
SKiiP IPM is fully tested during its own pro-
duction process. Every SKiiPRACK under-
goes a full suite of tests during production
including isolation, operational load tests and
short circuit tests. Additionally an optional
burn-in is available for customers who
require an elevated level of severity. This
ensures maximum robustness and reliability
during the long service lifetimes necessary
for high value high power applications.
More than five decades ago Semikron start-
ed to integrate semiconductors, capacitors,
cooling management systems and drivers
into power assemblies. The high demand
for these power platforms results in series
production with established processes. The
design and application expertise of the solu-
tion centers, one located on each continent,
have been combined into the Semikron
Solution Center Network. Global support for
local service provides development and pro-
duction capabilities as close as possible to
the customers´ applications.
www.semikron.com
LEM has introduced its new high accuracy
ITL 900 current transducer for precise meas-
urement of DC, AC and pulsed currents up
to ±900A. The ITL 900 is the highest accu-
racy current transducer available on the mar-
ket today, allowing more precise measure-
ment and control of currents in wide range of
industrial, medical and instrumentation appli-
cations.
The ITL 900 provides linearity error (åL) of
less than or equal to 3ppm over an operating
temperature range of +10 to +50ºC, offset
stability over four hours of less than 0.5ppm,
offset current temperature coefficient
(TCIOE) of less than 0.3ppm/ºK .
The transducer offers a wide measurement
bandwidth of more than 200kHz (-3dB),
allowing fast current transients to be accu-
rately measured. Other advantages include
negligible self-magnetisation, a current over-
load capability, and galvanic isolation
between the high-power primary circuit and
the electronic secondary circuit.
The ITL 900 also has very low output noise,
with random noise less than 15μAtrms and
coherent noise of less than 50μAtrms at 50
or 60Hz.The ITL 900 works on an internal
clock that can also be synchronised to an
external clock signal, increasing immunity to
periodic noise.
The new transducer is based on a double
fluxgate closed loop technology that has
been adapted and improved by LEM. Con-
ventional transducers, based on open loop
(uncompensated) Hall effect technology,
cannot provide the extremely low non-lineari-
ty error, very low noise floor or low thermal
offset drift required in many applications
such as high performance gradient ampli-
fiers for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
or precision current-regulated devices like
high accuracy power supplies, test bench
power analysis calibration equipment, and
laboratory and metrology equipment.
The ITL 900 is CE marked and is supplied
with a five-year warranty, as are all LEM
industrial products.
LEM is the global leader in providing innova-
tive and high quality solutions for measuring
electrical parameters. Its current and voltage
transducers are used in a broad range of
applications in industrial, traction, energy &
automation and automotive markets. LEM is
a high growth global company with approxi-
mately 1000 employees worldwide. It has
production plants in Geneva (Switzerland),
Copenhagen (Denmark), Machida (Japan),
Beijing (China) and regional sales offices
close to its customers’ locations. LEM has
been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange
since 1986; the company’s ticker symbol is
LEHN.
www.lem.com
G R E E N P R O D U C T O F T H E M O N T H
12 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
900A Current TransducerSets Benchmark forAccuracy and Drift
14 Bodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.com
Global mega-
trends are far
reaching
transforma-
tions that
have a dra-
matic impact
and shape
our society. In
a world that
wants to be
clean and
green, energy
conservation and climate protection repre-
sent a megatrend that will shape coming
years, if not decades.
With developing countries demanding higher
living standards, global energy consumption
is expected to rise dramatically. Recently,
China’s National Energy Association report-
ed that the country’s electricity consumption
increased 23% year over year for the Janu-
ary – May period. Moreover, the number of
cars in China is expected to grow from 33
million today to 130 million in the next 12
years. At the same time, fossil fuel reserves
are limited. China already consumes more
coal than the U.S., Russia and India — com-
bined. By 2030, China will emit 41% more
greenhouse gases than the U.S.
While it sounds like a perfect storm in the
making, these powerful winds of change pro-
vide a growth and innovation opportunity for
businesses that choose to embrace them.
National Semiconductor’s energy strategy
encompasses improving clean energy cre-
ation, energy storage and energy conserva-
tion. On the energy creation side, National
introduced an award-winning technology
called SolarMagic™, which increases the
efficiency and energy harvest of solar photo-
voltaic (PV) systems.
Real-world problems lead to mismatches in
solar systems that significantly reduce the
effectiveness of solar arrays. National’s
SolarMagic technology distributes chips and
active electronics onto the PV modules and
can recoup up to 71% of power lost due to
array imbalances. This improvement in per-
formance is incremental to the enhance-
ments in PV cell technologies and gives
installation owners more predictable power
output at the same time. National was the
first company to release a power optimizer
for the solar market in 2009, and also was
first to bring an in-panel chipset to market
earlier this year.
The lighting sector is on the verge of a revo-
lution, shifting away from a century-old, inef-
ficient technology — the incandescent light
bulb. Today, 19% of the world’s electricity is
consumed powering lights. This is more than
the combination of all renewable energy
sources are able to supply today. Incandes-
cent bulbs are very inefficient, converting
only a few percent of the energy they
receive into light. In comparison, the latest
solid-state LED lighting solutions are as
much as four to eight times more efficient.
Simply changing light bulbs could be one of
the quickest ways to reduce electricity use
worldwide.
With the solid-state lighting market still
emerging, National foresees that innovation
in the electronic drive and control of LEDs
will be the key to unlocking and leveraging
the benefits LEDs offer over all other light
sources. National provides a diverse portfo-
lio of high-performance and easy-to-use
electronic drive solutions for high-brightness
LEDs and an award-winning LED design tool
that allows engineers to design a complete
LED lighting and LED drive solution quickly
and easily. Recently, National introduced a
TRIAC dimmable LED driver for down light-
ing and replacement bulb applications, and a
multi-channel output device with dynamic
headroom control and thermal management
to efficiently drive multiple strings of LEDs
for high-power wide area applications.
Transportation is the world’s fastest-growing
form of energy use, accounting for nearly
30% of the world’s energy use and 95% of
global oil consumption. Electric cars are
promising a reprieve here. They are zippy
and emission free. Simply doubling the size
of a typical home PV solar installation could
theoretically cover the electricity needed to
operate an electric vehicle (EV). However,
the key to unlock the electric car revolution
lies in the evolution of battery technology,
permitting batteries to be charged faster,
increasing their range and lasting longer.
A typical late generation EV battery consists
of up to thousands of individual battery cells,
stacked in parallel groups and long strings of
hundreds of volts or more. Similar to solar
installations, the weakest cells will signifi-
cantly limit the performance of a battery
when using traditional dissipative (passive)
cell balancing. National has developed a
system that leverages both precision analog
silicon design and power management to
provide active balancing of individual cells
within a battery.
Field trials are under way and have shown a
significantly increased driving range and bat-
tery pack cycle life with National’s new bat-
tery management technology. Moreover, this
technology enables battery pack design flex-
ibility, which makes designing a pure electric
or hybrid vehicle faster and more cost-effec-
tive. By addressing the challenge of manag-
ing a complex battery pack subsystem at a
system level, National is enabling faster
time-to-market for electric vehicles, which is
good for designers as well as the environ-
ment.
Innovative semiconductor technologies can
provide efficient and sustainable solutions to
the challenges of increased global energy
demand and environmental protection.
Megatrends pose urgent challenges to our
society, but enterprises that embrace them
will ultimately benefit from the economic tail-
wind they generate.
www.national.com
G U E S T E D I T O R I A L
Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
Megatrends: Tailwinds forGrowth and Innovation
By Ralf J. Muenster, Director Strategy and Business Development, National Semiconductor
We all know the expression “money is
power.” In today’s world, especially now, as
we emerge from the economic downturn, I
believe that is true. But I also believe we
can turn the old saying around – power is
money. Whether power savings come
through reduced consumption in a data cen-
ter, a more efficient household appliance or
through longer battery life in mobile devices,
conserving power saves money. Now more
than ever, the opportunities to save power
and money are limitless, and they are help-
ing drive a return to growth in the worldwide
semiconductor industry.
While forecasts continue to differ, I ascribe to
what I call the “Bell Swoosh” recovery sce-
nario. In this scenario, symbolized by a
swoosh-shaped check mark, we’ll experi-
ence a strong upturn this year, characterized
by strong revenues and profits across the
industry. Then, during 2011 we’ll taper off to
a more typical growth rate of 7 to 8 percent
annually.
During the recovery phase, new market driv-
ers are taking hold. Video ICs for systems
ranging from handheld phones to large
screen TVs, represent one major driver.
Another example is security systems, as sur-
veillance cameras are becoming increasingly
necessary for public and individual safety
worldwide.
And then there is power; that is, how to
reduce consumption. Every application you
can name -- from notebooks and handhelds to
data centers and industrial equipment -- can
benefit from smarter power management.
Intersil is fully committed to developing the
power management ICs the markets require,
and we’re working closely with customers to
put these solutions in place. Our 2009
acquisition of Rock Semiconductor in China
significantly improves our ability to create
full-featured PMICs for a wide variety of
portable applications. In addition, we’ve cre-
ated a portfolio of solutions including high-
efficiency DC/DC converters, battery charg-
ers, battery managers, power modules and
many others. Let’s take a look at some
important sectors.
Telecommunications, data communications,
electronic data processing and wireless net-
work systems use distributed power archi-
tectures that require the ability to accurately
control and monitor power supplies. Intersil
has released modular power conversion
solutions that provide ‘black box’ solutions to
complex DC/DC conversion requirements.
The high level of integration simplifies
designs while reducing the PCB footprint.
For example, the Intersil ISL8201M DC/DC
module delivers excellent efficiency and ther-
mal performance, and is the kind of POL
solution that will become more popular dur-
ing this current upturn.
Energy generation, distribution and conser-
vation requirements also benefit from new
power management technologies. For
example, it’s critical that we increase the effi-
ciency of data centers. Data centers
presently consume about 2.5 percent of total
electric power in the United States -- a figure
that’s rising by approximately 12 percent per
year. Addressing light-load efficiency using
smart multi-phase controller technology is an
excellent solution. This architecture allows a
high current regulator to achieve over 90
percent efficiency from full load (which can
be over 100 amps) down to a light load of
only 1 amp.
What about the ‘smart grid?’ The semicon-
ductor industry and Intersil have plenty to
offer here. A primary objective is to level
power use by running appliances or charging
vehicles whenever surplus power is available,
and conserving energy when demand peaks.
Incorporating smart power conversion ICs
and communication capability into appliances
enables this important functionality.
What about wasted power during transmis-
sion and generation? This is another oppor-
tunity. Right now, nearly two-thirds of electri-
cal power generated is lost or wasted
because of aging, outdated electrical grids.
These need to be replaced with “self-healing
systems” enabled by devices that combine
sensing, communication, memory and pro-
cessing.
This ‘smart grid’ enables decentralized, dis-
tributed power generation that builds on the
system of transmission lines and transform-
ers that feed power. A portion of a region
requiring power can be fitted with photovolta-
ic cells that can be used by the grid to aug-
ment conventional means of power genera-
tion. Intersil is developing ICs for these
types of applications, including solid-state
metering devices that deliver remote reading
and peak/off peak rate schedules, and
enable grid monitoring and management of
fast swing rate generators.
Alternative energy sources such as solar
and wind have significant degrees of vari-
ability and uncertainty that require smart sys-
tem designs. Energy storage systems are
needed to level power delivery, and semi-
conductors will play a key role in power con-
version in such systems.
T H E E X P E R T S V I E W
16 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
Reducing Power Consumption:A Major Driver of the Global
Semiconductor RecoveryBy Dave Bell, Chief Executive Officer, Intersil Corporation
Semiconductor technology adds efficiency in solar energy systems
through ‘smart’ micro-inverters embedded in photovoltaic panels,
providing control and intelligence to the panels so they can com-
municate and interact efficiently with the smart grid. A solar array
can be connected to a central inverter; while individual panels are
outfitted with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) DC/DC con-
verters. Devices like DC/DC micro-converters with MPPT can
operate efficiently at widely varying light levels, and include the
ability to communicate operating status information.
Additionally, smart, or ‘green’ appliances can manage power con-
sumption. ICs with remote control on/off enable precise load man-
agement on the grid, and can be used in AC compressors, refrig-
erators, water heaters and water pumps. Semiconductors enable
more efficient lighting using high-brightness LEDs. High bright-
ness LEDs also permit not just brightness control, but also color
temperature control to alter the mood in the lit area.
There’s another significant power trend in force now -- digital
power ICs, which combine power conversion with intelligence in a
compact single package that is easy to configure. By adding Zilk-
er Labs to our portfolio of technologies, Intersil has underscored
our commitment to digital power management. Digital power con-
version will help drive semiconductor industry growth through the
upward ‘swoosh’ we are now experiencing.
Intersil is focused on all these applications and markets, engaging
with customers at the beginning of the design cycle, and deliver-
ing innovative technology solutions targeted to specific require-
ments which ultimately reinforces saving power is saving money.
www.intersil.com
www.bodospower.com national.com/led
High Performance. Low Power.
Energy-Efficient LED Lighting Solutions
National’s LM3424 constant-current LED driver offers integrated
thermal control to increase system reliability and extend the life
of LEDs in indoor/outdoor lighting and automotive applications.
Thermal ManagementThe LM3424’s thermal foldback feature eliminates the need for
external thermal management circuitry for a more robust and
reliable thermal system.
Easy to UseNational’s WEBENCH® LED Designer online tool lets designers
visualize the design’s behavior at user-selected LED temperature
breakpoints.
Flexible DesignThe LM3424 LED driver, with a wide input voltage range, can be
easily configured in buck, boost, buck-boost, and SEPIC topologies
with minimal adjustments.
LED
Cur
rent
LED Temperature
NominalCurrent
TemperatureBreakpoint
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Pow
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and
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ENCH
are
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adem
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. All
right
s re
serv
ed.
Hands-on three day laboratory based
course aimed at analog power supply
designers.
Easy to use software libraries availa-
ble as part of the workshop package.
Courses run regularly throughout
Europe and the US.
For more information, please visit
www.ti.com/biricha
DIGITAL POWER DESIGN WORKSHOP
www.ti.com/biricha
18 Bodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.com
GENERAL
Over the last decade,
Europe has seen a
gradual semiconductor
market decline com-
pared to other regions,
so the ESIA. This
trend is expected to
continue in 2010 with
Europe’s share of the
worldwide market reaching 13 percent from
18 percent in 2004. Furthermore, the share
of semiconductor production in Europe has
seen a further decrease from 12.5 percent in
2004 to 9.6 percent in 2009. On the back-
ground of these trends, the European Com-
mission is paying fresh attention to the
developments of the semiconductor sector
as one of five key enabling technologies that
have been identified as strategically impor-
tant for Europe’s development. The Commis-
sion communicated this policy in 2009 and
combined it in early 2010 with the so-called
‘flagships’ of the 2020 Strategy. These initia-
tives are now coming together with the kick-
off meeting of the High Level Group on Key
Enabling Technologies, due to start its work
on July 13. It is expected to propose some
of the answers needed to speed up Euro-
pean semiconductor market and production,
enhance its innovative capabilities in design,
engineering and manufacturing technologies.
SEMICONDUCTORS
The WSTS forecasts the semiconductor
market to grow by 28.6 percent to $ 291 bil-
lion in 2010. In 2009, the semiconductor
industry was affected by the global economic
crisis, with contracting results at an -9.0 per-
cent growth. This new forecast presents a
materially more optimistic outlook for the
year 2010, with an increase of $ 44 billion
over the fall forecast.
TSMC has reached a series of agreements
covering technology licensing, supply, and
joint development, with Stion, a manufactur-
er of high-efficiency thin-film solar photo-
voltaic modules. In addition, VentureTech
Alliance, a TSMC affiliate, will invest $ 50 M
to take a 21 percent stake in Stion. Sepa-
rately, TSMC introduced the first Slim Library
that reduces system-on-chip (SoC) routed
logic block area by 15 percent compared to
blocks routed through current standard cell
libraries.
picoChip, a British supplier of semiconduc-
tors and software for femtocells, has passed
the milestone of one million chips sold and is
on track to achieve over 50 percent quarter-
on-quarter sequential revenue growth this
calendar quarter. To support expansion plans
during this period of exceptional growth the
company has secured $ 20 M of additional
equity funding. ABI Research indicates that
over 60 carriers around the world are
engaged in femtocell trials and evaluations
and that femtocell shipments will exceed 40
M units by 2014.
X-FAB Silicon Foundries, a German ana-
log/mixed-signal foundry, will expand its
foundry service to include 200mm MEMS
wafer processing. Moving to the larger wafer
diameter and monolithic MEMS/CMOS inte-
gration allows significant reductions in manu-
facturing costs. X-FAB will install 8-inch
MEMS process equipment in its dedicated
MEMS clean room in Erfurt, Germany.
SEMI reported that worldwide semiconductor
manufacturing equipment billings reached $
7.46 billion in the first quarter of 2010. The
billings figure is 32 percent higher than the
fourth quarter of 2009 and 142 percent high-
er than the same quarter a year ago. World-
wide semiconductor equipment bookings
were $ 9.41 billion in the first quarter of
2010. T
Worldwide semiconductor capital equipment
spending is projected to surpass $ 35.4 bil-
lion in 2010, a 113.2 percent increase from
2009 so Gartner. However, Gartner warned
that equipment vendors should prepare for
slower growth heading into 2011.
OPTOELECTRONICS
Everlight Electronics, a Taiwanese LED
packaging company announced a joint ven-
ture for a new LED packaging company in
China with AmTRAN, a Taiwanese display
manufacturer specializing in computer moni-
tors and flat-panel televisions, and LG Dis-
play. The new company is planned to start
operations and mass production in the year's
end with a capitalization of $ 30
PASSIVE COMPONENTS
The German PCB market is poised to grow
16 percent to € 1.3 billion, while the market
for electronic assemblies (inhouse manufac-
turers and EMS providers) is expected to
experience a revenue increase of nearly 15
percent to € 23.6 billion, so the ZVEI.
OTHER COMPONENTS
ABB, the global power and automation tech-
nology group, has announced a recommend-
ed offer to acquire UK-based Chloride in
order to establish a leading presence in and
help to meet the growing demand for unin-
terruptible power supplies (UPS). The
boards of directors of both companies have
agreed on a recommended offer price of 325
pence per share. The offer price values the
business at approximately £ 860 M. Chloride
Group is based in London, employs about
2,500 people and reported revenue of £ 336
M in its last fiscal year.
Aeroflex, a provider of microelectronic com-
ponents and test and measurement equip-
ment, announced a definitive agreement to
acquire Advanced Control Components, from
Emrise for $ 20 M in cash. Closing is expect-
ed to occur in July 2010.
DISTRIBUTION
Avnet Abacus and Molex concluded a strate-
gic agreement extending their relationship to
cover the manufacturer’s complete portfolio
of automotive connector solutions throughout
Europe.
Lattice Semiconductor has extended its dis-
tribution agreement with MSC Vertriebs to
include Benelux and Italy. MSC has support-
ed Lattice products and solutions in Europe
since 1995.
Aptech, a French high tech stocking rep in
semiconductors, has signed a distributor
agreement with Supertex, a manufacturer of
high performance analog and mixed integrat-
ed circuits: LED and EL drivers ICs, high
voltage, up to 450v, interface and ultrasound
ICs.
This is the comprehensive power related
extract from the « Electronics Industry Digest
», the successor of The Lennox Report. For
a full subscription of the report contact:
or by fax 44/1494 563503.
www.europartners.eu.com
M A R K E T
ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY DIGESTBy Aubrey Dunford, Europartners
20 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
Few topics have generated as much anticipation and confusion as
the Smart Grid. Companies and governments are in a position to
define and build an integrated system of technologies that will estab-
lish power delivery architectures for years to come. This is both excit-
ing and frustrating, since agreement on these technologies is not
unanimous. Power supply makers need to understand the equipment
their products will be powering, and they need to know both where
the opportunities are, and the challenges posed by the equipment.
There is a wide chasm between the experience and expectations of
utility executives and those of electronic equipment manufacturers.
Utility executives expect to build a network that will function reliably
for decades, while product and technology lifecycles for electronic
equipment are an order of magnitude faster. Reconciling those con-
flicting experiences will be critical to the successful implementation of
a comprehensive smart grid solution.
As it did with digital power, energy harvesting and dc powering of
buildings, Darnell Group understands the challenges posed by the
smart grid. To help power supply companies capitalize on this new
market, several tools and resources have been introduced, including
a new “power practice” and a new conference, the Smart Grid Elec-
tronics Forum. The latter is being held in San Jose, California, Octo-
ber 18-20th. The primary areas of coverage will be the need for con-
trol, communications and security for deployment of the smart grid,
and the impact of these requirements on the design of future genera-
tions of electronic equipment.
One of the first issues that must be addressed is standards develop-
ment for electronic equipment. For the smart grid to have benefits, it
must be able to reliably communicate to the downstream loads and
also be able to turn these loads on/off or turn them up/down, as
appropriate. The IEEE is advancing its work on standards for the
smart grid, with ratification of the IEEE 1815 Distributed Network Pro-
tocol (DNP3) standard for electric power systems communications,
and announcement of the IEEE P1547.8 draft standard, establishing
a common technical platform for distributed resources interconnec-
tion applications.
IEEE 1815, which was fast-tracked for completion in only seven
months, is a collaboratively developed, adaptable framework that is
the groundwork for achieving greater device interoperability and
security. The robust, multi-layered protocol specifies an agile, forward
looking architecture enabling better optimized and more secure infor-
mation gathering, exchange, and use, particularly in supervisory con-
trol and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Expanding on widely
used industry protocols, the comprehensive standard also preserves
previous significant infrastructure investments by remaining backward
compatible with existing object models, while incorporating emerging
smart grid and other new technologies. The standard was scheduled
for final publication in July, 2010.
The IEEE P1547.8 draft standard expands upon the IEEE 1547 stan-
dard for interconnecting distributed resources with electric power sys-
tems, while incorporating industry and National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) recommendations for improved interconnec-
tion performance functionality. It provides greater support for intermit-
tent renewable energy sources, and more flexible use of inverters
such as found in home solar power systems, and also addresses
energy storage challenges coming into play across the distributed
resources and smart grid industries, including energy storage
devices, hybrid generation storage systems, and the energy storage
aspects of plug-in electric vehicles. IEEE P1547.8 is targeted for rati-
fication in calendar year 2012.
In Europe, CENELEC indicated that, currently, the smart grid is
“under examination at the IEC level,” and European standards are
expected through a IEC/CENELEC cooperation agreement (Dresden
Agreement). Germany’s Medium Voltage Directive is one of the first
large-scale mandates of grid operator communications and control
over third-party distributed generation. The directive gives grid opera-
tors the ability to remotely disable renewable energy (RE) systems
connected at 10-110 kilovolts, requires power ramping to prevent
harmful surges and dips, enables RE systems to ride through grid
faults when linemen are clearly not at risk, and may require that
inverters provide reactive power to correct voltage problems. The
directive seems chiefly intended to manage wind power but may be
necessary for solar power management, as well.
Companies are already looking at interoperability issues and intro-
ducing products to address them. In June, 2010, EDSA, a privately
held developer of software solutions for the design, simulation,
deployment and preventive maintenance of complex electrical power
systems, unveiled its patented EDSA® Power Analytics Gateway™.
The data integration platform allows electrical energy monitoring and
management systems from major vendors to exchange data, and it is
being deployed in mission-critical applications ranging from data cen-
ters to oil drilling platforms to microgrids around the world. The com-
pany’s Paladin® SmartGrid™ enables “real-time transitions between
public and on-premise power sources.”
Indeed, the “public versus on-premise” issue is critical for under-
standing the opportunities inherent in the smart grid. Worldwide
investment in the smart grid is approaching $46 billion by 2015, but
the vast majority of that money will go to back-end transmission and
distribution systems ($41 billion), with most of the rest going to the
purchase and installation of smart meters ($4.8 billion). In other
words, very little (if any) money is going to the actual electronics
equipment that will be handling the on-premises loads.
M A R K E T
How Will the Smart Grid ChangeElectronic Equipment Design?
By Linnea Brush, Senior Research Analyst, Darnell Group
21www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
Smart meters are getting a lot of attention as an “on-premises” smart
grid device, but they are not the best opportunity for power supply
makers. At best, they are a “transitional” technology that can help
drive the smart grid build-out. Smart meters are being pushed as a
“communications and control gateway” for everything from electric
and gas customers, to photovoltaics (PV), to distributed generation.
They could support the deployment of much higher PV penetrations
than are currently allowed in power distribution networks, with a con-
current increase in solar power yield through better system monitor-
ing and remote inverter repair.
Europe has led in the deployment of smart meters. As early as 2007,
companies indicated that metering applications would be “really big,”
especially heat metering. Several manufacturers were already adding
wireless reading to lower costs for heat, water and electricity meters.
The US and other regions are now catching up.
Demand for accurate solar power system monitoring and remote
repair has encouraged module and inverter companies to make cus-
tomer relationships more “sticky” by bundling monitoring systems that
work with portfolios of systems made for their products. Inverter com-
panies, such as SatCon, Advanced Energy and SMA, are dedicating
more development cycles to monitoring, communications and control
features.
System makers are investing in the smart grid, as well, with some of
the largest companies backing technologies that are likely to be used
on the customer premises. This is where the opportunities will be for
power supply companies. Cisco, IBM, General Electric, Intel, Honey-
well and Siemens are all staking claims on the smart grid opportuni-
ties. Cisco is working with utility companies, and Intel is investing in
smart grid companies. Cooper Power Systems is even leveraging its
energy harvesting power supply technology with its EH Repeater for
enhancing smart grid mesh radio networks.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. is investing 7 billion yen by March 2012 in a
project to build facilities within the company’s production sites in
Japan “for experiments designed to establish advanced smart grid
technologies.” The project will contribute to the company’s efforts to
support the adoption of sustainable power supplies worldwide,
according to Mitsubishi. The company has focused on the European
market, in particular, where a large amount of electricity is expected
to be generated from renewable energy sources, such as photovolta-
ic systems.
These developments will be an ongoing focus for Darnell, along with
design requirements, real-time control methods, power quality and
reliability issues for smart grid implementation. Although the evolution
and deployment of the smart grid will be slow, the prospects for
power supply sales will appear much more quickly.
http://www.powerpulse.net/SmartGrid
http://smartgrid.darnell.com
M A R K E T
NDM1-12
NDM1-25
www.novumdigital.com
V-Infinity’s new 12 A and 25 A digital DC-DC Point-of-Load (POL) modules are aimed at the emerging digital
power management and control market. The Novum product line is focused on providing a complete, easy-to
implement solution, with the goal of making the benefits of digital power accessible to a wide array of users.
22 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.com
End equipment users from servers to base stations are becoming more
concerned about efficiency and power loss as well as their impact on
annual operating costs. This means that designers must improve effi-
ciency throughout the power conversion process. Traditional approach-
es to improve efficiency in DC/DC synchronous buck converters
include reducing conduction losses in the MOSFETs through lower
RDS(ON) devices and lowering switching losses through low-frequency
operation. The incremental improvements in RDS(ON) are at a point of
diminishing returns and low RDS(ON) devices have large parasitic
capacitances that do not facilitate the high-frequency operation
required to improve power density. The NexFET Power Block is
designed to leverage the NexFET power MOSFET’s significantly lower
gate charge and an innovative stacked die packaging approach to
achieve dramatic performance improvements.
New Power Silicon
The major losses that occur within a MOSFET switch in a typical syn-
chronous buck converter consist of switching, conduction, body diode
and gate drive losses. The switching losses are primarily caused by
the parasitic capacitances formed within the structure of the device.
The conduction losses are a result of the device’s resistance
(RDS(ON)) when in the enhanced mode of operation. The body diode
losses are a function of its forward voltage and reverse recovery
(Qrr). Gate drive losses are determined by the Qg of the
MOSFET. Therefore, the parasitic capacitances and the RDS(ON)
determine the performance of the device in a specific application.
The most common technology used in today’s low-voltage MOSFETs
is the Trench-FET® (see Figure 1). The Trench-FET is known for its
ability to achieve ultra-low resistance for a specific die size over the
planar technology that it replaced. The only negative was that its par-
asitic capacitances actually increased. The large area of the trench
walls makes it difficult to keep the internal capacitances small. The
resulting high capacitances force designers to choose between a low
operating frequency to optimize the efficiency and high frequency
with better power density.
In 2007, the NexFET power MOSFET was introduced. The NexFET
can achieve a similar specific on resistance to the Trench-FET tech-
nology, while reducing associated parasitic capacitances by about
fifty percent. The NexFET device finds its roots in a laterally diffused
MOSFET (LDMOS) and combines vertical current flow to achieve
high-current density. A closer look at the structure shown in Figure 1
reveals that the area underneath the gate has minimum overlap over
source and drain regions, keeping the internal capacitances small.
The reduced capacitances result in lower charges (Qg, Qgs, Qgd)
required to switch the device. Therefore, the device switches faster,
reducing switching losses within the MOSFET. With less energy
required from the drive circuit, driver losses are reduced. The Miller
charge (Qgd) within the device impacts its switching losses as well as
determines the switch’s ability to avoid C dv/dt turn on, which can fur-
ther reduce efficiency and potentially damage the MOSFETs. The
extremely low Qgd in the NexFET device minimizes turn on time and
the potential for C dv/dt.
C O V E R S T O R Y
Advancing Silicon PerformanceBeyond the Capabilities of Discrete Power MOSFETs
Combining NexFETTM MOSFETs with stacked die techniques significantly reduceds parasitic losses
The drive for higher efficiency and increased power in smaller form factors is beingaddressed by advancements in both silicon and packaging technologies. The NexFETTM
Power Block combines these two technologies to achieve higher levels of performance,and in half the space versus discrete MOSFETs. This article explains these new technolo-
gies and highlights their performance advantages.
By Jeff Sherman, Product Marketing Engineer, and Juan Herbsommer, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Texas Instruments
Figure 1: MOSFET structure comparison
23www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®www.bodospower.com July 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®www.bodospower.com July 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
C O V E R S T O R Y
New Power Packaging
The NexFET power MOSFET takes a step toward creating an ideal
switch by reducing parasitic capacitances. In order to maximize the
performance of a typical synchronous buck converter, we need to
minimize the parasitic inductances and resistances in the power cir-
cuit formed by the two MOSFETs in the power stage. This is accom-
plished through an innovative packaging approach in the NexFET
Power Block where the MOSFETs are actually stacked on a ground-
ed lead frame with two copper clips (see Figure 2). The resulting
power block package has characteristics that make it unique in the
power electronics industry. The package accomplishes four primary
functions: small footprint, very low parasitics, excellent thermal per-
formance, and solid reliability.
To achieve a small footprint and the lowest parasitics possible, a
stacking topology is used in the NexFET Power Block package
design. A source down silicon technology allows high-side die to be
stacked on top of the low-side transistor to implement a synchronous
buck converter topology in a very simple and cost-effective manner.
The low-side die is attached to the main pad of the lead frame, pro-
viding the ground connection of the MOSFET pair (see Figure 3). The
low-side drain is connected to the outside through a thick copper clip
that constitutes the device’s switching node (VSW). On top of the thick
copper clip we solder die attached the high-side MOSFET, which also
uses a source down technology. Finally, another thick copper clip
connects the high-side drain (VIN of the buck converter) to the
device’s external pins. The gate connections are made using Au wire
bonds (TG and BG), and TGR is the top gate return to the IC driver.
TGR is the switching voltage node sense signal that allows the IC
driver to properly bias the high-side MOSFET gate.
This package has an excellent electrical performance, which is criti-
cal in achieving high efficiency. Contributions to high efficiency can
be summarized as:
1) Using thick copper clips for high-current connections (VIN and
VSW), which substantially reduce the device’s RDS(ON) in compari-
son with wire-bonded solutions. This also reduces conduction losses.
2) Thin silicon dies substantially reduce conduction losses by
dropping the contribution of the device’s substrate to RDS(ON).
3) The stacked configuration virtually eliminates the parasitic induc-
tance and resistance between high- and low-side MOSFETS; and
using thick copper clips substantially reduce parasitics associated
with the VIN and VSW connections when compared to wire-bonded
solutions. For a more detailed view of the package parasitics, refer
to Figure 4. In general, reducing or even eliminating the buck con-
verter’s internal parasitic allows the system to switch faster and
work at higher frequencies because of the reduced switching
losses.
The NexFET Power Block thermal performance is excellent with a
measured thermal resistance junction to case RΘJC = 2°C/W and
thermal resistance junction to air RΘJA = 50°C/W. The main reason
behind these low-thermal resistance values are the reduced silicon
thickness and thick copper clips that help to conduct heat generated
to the package exterior. One might think that the stacked topology
could increase the junction temperatures, especially on the high-side
transistor. However, thermal measurements and simulations show
that in normal operation the high-side junction temperature is only a
fraction of a degree above the low-side die junction temperature. For
example, in an experiment with the NexFET Power Block mounted in
a typical application board with two Watts dissipated in the low-side
die and one Watt dissipated in the high side, the top-side MOSFET
junction is only 0.4°C higher than the junction of the low-side device.
The results are reasonable considering that the thermal resistance
between the die is extremely low, and the clips are conducting a sub-
stantial part of the heat generated by the stack to the package exteri-
or.
Thermal performance combined with its lower power losses allow the
NexFET Power Block to operate at similar temperatures to competi-
tive solutions using two discrete MOSFETs. Figure 5 compares the
measured temperatures of the NexFET Power Block versus a pair of
MOSFETs. Both circuits operated under similar conditions and the
Power Block’s junction temperature was cooler than the discrete low-
side MOSFET, and slightly hotter than the high-side device.
Another important characteristic is the package’s impressive reliability
performance. The power block has passed the following reliability
tests:
• 1,000 cycles of temperature cycling –40 to 125°C
(three cells of 77 units)
• 10,000 cycles of power cycling, delta junction temperature = 100°C
(three cells of 77 units)
Figure 2: Source down technology allows MOSFETs to be stacked Figure 4: NexFET Power Block parasitic model package
Figure 3: A cross sectional view of the NexFET Power Block illus-trates a unique packaging approach
24 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
• 96 hours of autoclave, 121°C/100% RH (three cells of 77 units)
• 1,000 hours of THB, 85°C/85% RH (three cells of 77 units)
• 1,000 hours of HTRB, 150°C/80% rated VDS
(three cells of 77 units)
• 1,000 hours of HTGB, 150°C/80% rated VGS
(three cells of 77 units)
The combination of the silicon die thickness, bill of materials and a
detailed design of the lead frames and clips results in a very reliable
device that can sustain extreme temperature cycles and humidity lev-
els without impacting performance.
New Power Solution
Combining the source down NexFET technology and the stacked die
packaging technique significantly reduces the associated parasitics
and creates a synchronous buck power block capable of outperform-
ing discrete MOSFET transistors. The power block achieves over two
percent higher efficiency at 25 amps than two discrete NexFETs with
similar conduction and switching characteristics (see Figure 6).
Efficiency peaks at over 93 percent and is 90.7 percent at 25 amps.
The higher efficiency translates into more than a 20 percent reduction
in power loss. The reduced power loss improves thermal perform-
ance and reduces system operating costs, or can be used to enable
higher frequency operation to improve power density.
Beyond improving performance and reducing board space by 50 per-
cent versus discrete MOSFETs, the NexFET Power Block simplifies
the development effort. In discrete implementations, care must be
taken in the layout when connecting the two devices to reduce induc-
tance – now this concern is eliminated. The pinout allows easy place-
ment of discrete components. This includes locating input capacitors
close to the package, and the output inductor with the noise generat-
ing switch node on the opposite side of the package from the input
capacitor and PWM controller IC. The NexFET Power Block also
benefits from a grounded lead frame that should improve thermal
performance and reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI). These
attributes can help designers to achieve first-time success when
designing with the NexFET Power Block.
References
1. “Next Generation of Power MOSFETs,” Jacek Korec and Shuming
Xu, Power Electronics Europe, May 2009: http://www.power-
mag.com/pdf/issuearchive/29.pdf.
2. “NexFET: A New Power Device,” S. Xu, J. Korec, C. Kocon, D.
Jauregui, Texas Instruments, International Electron Devices meet-
ing, December 2009.
3. “History of FET Technology and the move to NexFET,” Jacek
Korec and Chris Bull, Bodo’s Power Systems, May 2009:
http://www.bodospower.com/pe/restricted/downloads/bp_2009_05.
pdf.
4. “Novel thermally enhanced power package,” Juan Herbsommer,
Texas Instruments, APEC 2010:
http://focus.ti.com/lit/wp/slva420/slva420.pdf.
Learn more about NexFET technology here: www.ti.com/nexfet-ca.
About the Authors
Jeffrey Duane Sherman is Product Marketing Engineer for Texas
Instruments’ Power Stage Business Unit where he is responsible for
promoting and marketing all power stage products including NexFET
power MOSFETs. Jeff has over 20 years of power management
experience and has written numerous articles on a variety of power
topics and holds two patents. He received his BSEE and studied for
his MBA at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and his
MSEE is from the Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jeff can be reached at [email protected].
Dr. Juan A. Herbsommer is Senior Member of Technical Staff with the
Power Stage group at Texas Instruments. Prior to acquisition by TI,
Juan was Technical Manager of Ciclon Semiconductors where he
developed and managed the backend and packaging technology of a
broad portfolio of novel high-power, high-efficiency MOSFET transis-
tors. At TI he continues to work on developing new technologies for
high-power microelectronics. Juan holds a Visiting Scientist position
at the Center for Optical Technology at Lehigh University where he
received his Ph.D. degree in Physics with Highest Distinction and a
Master in Business Administration. Juan can be reached at ti_herb-
NexFET and Texas Instruments are trademarks of Texas Instruments
Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
www.ti.com
C O V E R S T O R Y
Figure 5: Thermal comparison of discrete MOSFETs versus theCSD86350Q5D NexFET Power Block
Figure 6: NexFET Power Block significantly improves efficiency oversimilar discrete MOSFETs
26 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
For almost sixty years, SEMIKRON has been factoring in inverter
manufacturers’ requirements when developing power electronic com-
ponents for inverters. Thanks to a platform strategy – i.e. the use of
identical or scaleable module cases for different applications and
power classes – inverters can be configured to meet different
demands.
Electric inverter systems have had to meet demands as regards cost
efficiency and size optimization. Only around 10% of all motors in
use worldwide feature power electronic control systems. An inverter-
controlled motor uses up to 30% less electric energy than a non-con-
trolled motor. In fact, motor inverters bear huge potential for cutting
CO2 emissions and improving energy efficiency. To achieve maxi-
mum efficiency in a drive system, however, the ideal combination of
control, cooling and choice of silicon is needed. This can be achieved
by using optimised switching topologies, resonant inverters and high-
er switching frequencies, which in turn brings about smaller induc-
tances and, consequently, reduced costs and volume. The increas-
ingly dynamic networks need better-quality inverter output signals
and have to meet increased EMC (electromagnetic compatibility)
requirements at the same time. Standards and approval regulations
are becoming increasingly complex, while pressure to shorten devel-
opment times is rising. The best way to meet these diametrically
opposed requirements is to use a module platform concept which can
then be adapted for use in different power classes.
Platform strategy boosts efficiency
Examples of such module platforms are the MiniSKiiP and SEMIX
IGBT families. MiniSKiiP covers a power range of 1kW to 37kW in 4
different casing sizes. There are up to 3 different current classes for
each case size, meaning that a single PCB layout can cover the dif-
ferent power classes of an inverter platform.
M O T I O N C O N T R O L
For Wishes Big and Small Reduced costs and space thanks to scaleable power electronics
for drive systems
Today, electric drives perform differenttasks in industrial, public and vehicle
applications. These vary from machinetools and pumps to elevators and forklift
equipment. On the one hand, this has led tothe development of highly specialised
inverters; on the other hand, however, stan-dardisation is becoming increasingly
important in order to save costs. One possi-ble way of covering different applicationrequirements is to create a common hard-ware platform through relevant softwareparameterization. In addition, invertermanufacturers often wish to be able to
cover various power classes within a singlehardware platform and have scalable com-
ponents into the bargain.
By Thomas Grasshoff, Head of Product Management International, Semikron
Table 1: Current classes of 6-Pack IGBT modules and corresponding inverter power classes
Module type MiniSKiiP 2 MiniSKiiP 2 MiniSKiiP 2
Nominal current rating 35A 50A 75A
Typ. inverter power 7,5kW 11kW 15kW
www.bodospower.comwww.bodospower.comwww.bodospower.com
Scalability is not only necessary for module case size; in fact, it has
to be continued in the choice of packaging technology and the lay-
out of connection elements. In MiniSKiiP, for example, the power
and gate terminals are located in a position on the driver board that
makes sense for the entire circuitry. This means that the layout can
be easily scaled for bigger power classes. This results in increased
efficiency in inverter development.
In SEMiX-IGBT modules, scaling is done by altering the module
length. As a result, identical DC link designs and inverter designs
can be used. This is particularly useful for the medium-power
inverter range of 15 - 200kW, where there are smaller lot sizes than
in the low power range.
In all four module sizes, the location of the power and gate termi-
nals is scaled. The module length varies, depending on the power
class. This scalability is continued in the internal module design. In
SEMIX modules, depending on the power class, up to 4 DCB´s can
be connected in parallel with a full half bridge topology each. This
allows for a large number of identical parts in module production,
resulting in consistent production quality. In module application, this
means comparable switching behaviour, as the layout of the half
bridges is identical and the same commutation paths are available.
Thermal modelling helps detect side effects
Besides choice of module platform, in-site monitoring also plays an
important role. Since all modules are to operate under optimised
thermal conditions, it is necessary to monitor the temperature per-
manently. All modules feature an integrated temperature sensor.
Besides the temperature of the individual module, thermal side
effects also have to be taken into account. This includes thermal
cross-talk, boundary effects and disturbances in thermal distribu-
tion. Thermal modelling can help recognise design-related risks in
advance.
Advances in semiconductor technology allow for the development
of IGBT´s with increasingly fine structures and faster switching
properties. Over the past few years the reduction of chip thickness
has led to a reduction in chip area by more than 60% for the same
rated current. For current packaging technology, thin-film wafer
technology has reached its limits. This can be seen in the fact that
for the 70μm-thick 600V IGBT3 chips, the maximum short circuit
time of 10 μs has been reduced to 6μs. The substantial heat that
results in the case of a short circuit can no longer be stored in a
thin-film chip alone and the module thermal properties do not
enable the resultant heat to be dissipated quickly enough. The
reduction in chip area has made it possible to increase packaging
density; current ratings per module area are steadily increasing – at
8 -10 W/cm² the limits of air-controlled heat sinks have been
reached. Further concentration of heat density means that increas-
ingly complex heat sink solutions are needed, cancelling out any
cost savings achieved. The costs for power electronics can be
reduced in two ways only – by way of higher operating tempera-
tures and improved chip cooling. In order to achieve a higher
power yield from the silicon area, the maximum junction tempera-
tures of IGBT´s and freewheeling diodes are increased. The need
for short circuit protection in application sets a physical limit, since,
as the temperatures increase, the off-state currents go up exponen-
tially.
Optimised packaging technology
A 25K increase in IGBT operating temperature allows for up to 15%
higher effective current, depending on the switching frequency. On
the other hand, an increase in operating temperatures can lead to
accelerated ageing effects, thus reducing service life. This must be
compensated for by improving packaging technology. At elevated
operating temperatures, the solder connections between the base-
plate and ceramic substrate or between the chip and ceramic sub-
strate constitute the weakest point in the module. Owing to the differ-
ent coefficients of thermal expansion of the different materials being
used, high temperature fluctuations and excessive load cycles can
result in fatigue effects known as micro-cracks in the solders.
Towards the end of the module cycle life, this leads to increased ther-
mal resistances and thus to higher temperatures that will ultimately
destroy the wire bond connections. A possible solution to this prob-
lem would be to omit the base plate and use a pressure contact sys-
tem and take heat-distributing layout measures instead. As the
ceramic substrate is relatively flexible and the pressure is built up by
way of a number of mechanical “fingers”, very close contact between
heat sink and DCB is achieved. This is why the thermal paste layer,
which is responsible for up to 70% of the thermal resistance in a
power module, can be reduced to a minimum of 20- 30μm.
The thermal paste layer in modules with a base plate is three times
as thick in order compensate for the thermal warping that occurs
between the base plate and the heat sink. In baseplate-free modules
featuring pressure contacts, the thermal performance is up to 25%
higher than that in modules with a base plate. The latest technologi-
cal development is the replacement of chip solders by a sintered chip
layer. The much higher melting point reduces ageing caused by tem-
perature and load cycling to a minimum. Load cycling capability can
thus be increased up to a factor of 5, meaning that compromises no
longer have to be made in power module dimensioning for inverter
products. In terms of reliability, the weakest point in a power module
is now the ultra-sound bond connection on the chip upper and the
ceramic substrate. Module manufacturers are currently all focussing
on the development of new contact methods for the top chip surface
in order to make reliable chip connections.
The aforementioned platform concept enables manufacturers to use
identical module concepts in inverters of different power classes. This
includes, for example, general-purpose and servo inverters with dif-
ferent overload conditions and precision requirements. MiniSKiiP
IGBT modules for the 1 - 37 kW power class and SEMiX modules for
15 - 200 kW feature scaleable connection technology and external
dimensions for entire inverter families. Ongoing developments in
packaging technology for power modules are paving the way for solu-
tions for higher operating temperatures, for example heat sink tem-
peratures of over 100°C, thus resulting in more cost-efficient and
more compact solutions.
www.semikron.com
28 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
M O T I O N C O N T R O L
Figure 3: Dependence of inverter output current on maximum junc-tion temperature and heatsink temperature. Higher heatsink or IGBTjunction temperatures allow for higher inverter output powers.
Figure 2: Internal module scalability for SEMiX 2, 3 and 4 – sameform factor for different power classes
Figure 1: The case sizes and power classes of the MiniSKiiP IGBTmodule series cover a power range of 1 kW to 37kW.
Six Pack CIB
150
100 MiniSKiiP 3
75
70
50 MiniSKiiP 2
35
25
15 MiniSKiiP 1
8
4
MiniSKiiP 3
MiniSKiiP 2
MiniSKiiP 1
55 kVA,
37 kW
8 kVA,
4 kW
Icnom [A]
L I G H T I N G
HID lamps achieve efficacy and lifetime comparable to fluorescent
lamps, while also producing high brightness and excellent colour
temperature to satisfy applications such as floodlights, street lighting
and vehicle headlamps. However, although electronic ballasts
improve HID efficiency compared to traditional magnetic ballasts,
they also present complex design challenges leading to high costs. A
new generation of controller ICs now allows faster design cycles and
lower costs, with the added advantage of scalability to support a
number of lamp variants spanning a range of power levels.
Basic Ballast Requirements
HID lamps are driven with a low-frequency AC voltage (<200Hz typi-
cal) to avoid mercury migration and to prevent damage of the lamp
due to acoustic resonance. A typical metal halide 250W HID lamp
requires a nominal voltage and current of 100V and 2.5A respective-
ly, and requires a minimum warm-up time of two seconds. Electronic
ballasts for HID lamps must provide a high voltage of around 4kV for
ignition (or more than 20kV if hot), should manage current limitation
during warm-up and has to maintain constant power while running.
Lamp power must also be tightly regulated to minimise lamp-to-lamp
colour and brightness variations.
Figure 1 shows the generic start-up profile for an HID lamp. Before
ignition, the lamp is open circuit. After the lamp ignites, the lamp volt-
age drops quickly from the open-circuit voltage to a very low value
(20V typical) due to the low resistance of the lamp. The lamp current
also increases dramatically and should be limited to a safe maximum
level. As the lamp warms up, the current decreases as the voltage
and power increase. Eventually the lamp voltage reaches its nominal
value (100V typical) and the power is regulated to the correct level.
Functional Analysis
Figure 2 shows the functional blocks of an electronic ballast compris-
ing EMI filtering to block ballast-generated noise, a bridge rectifier, a
boost PFC stage that also produces a constant DC bus voltage, a
step-down buck converter for controlling the lamp current, a full-
bridge output stage for AC operation of the lamp, and an ignition cir-
cuit for striking the lamp. Control ICs manage the boost PFC stage
and the buck/full-bridge stages. This is an accepted approach to
powering HID lamps with a low-frequency AC voltage.
Driving an HID LampControl Innovations Reveal a Brighter Future
Emerging single-chip controllers for electronic ballasts will maximise the potential of HID lamps in the ultra-competitive lighting marketplace.
By Tom Ribarich, Director, Lighting Systems, International Rectifier
Figure 1: HID Operating Phases
L I G H T I N G
30 Bodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.com
The boost PFC stage runs in
critical-conduction mode. Dur-
ing this mode, the boost stage
operates with a constant on-
time and variable off-time
resulting in a free-running fre-
quency across each rectified
half-wave of the AC line cycle.
The frequency range is typical-
ly from 200kHz near the valley
of the half-wave to 50kHz at
the peak. The on-time is used
to regulate the DC bus to a
constant level and the off-time
is the time for the inductor cur-
rent to reach zero in each
switching cycle. The triangular shaped inductor current is filtered by
the EMI filter to produce a sinusoidal input current at the AC mains
input for high power factor and low harmonic distortion.
The buck control circuit is the main control circuit of the ballast and is
used to control the lamp current. The buck stage steps down the con-
stant DC bus voltage from the boost stage to the lower lamp voltage
across the full-bridge stage. The buck circuit shown can run in contin-
uous- or critical-conduction modes, depending on the condition of the
load. The lamp voltage and current are measured and multiplied
together to produce a lamp power measurement, which is fed back to
control the buck on-time. During the lamp warm-up period (after igni-
tion) when the lamp voltage is very low and the lamp current is very
high, the lamp current feedback will determine the buck on-time to
limit the maximum lamp current. When the lamp is running in a
steady state, power feedback determines the buck on-time to control
the lamp power. Operating in continuous-conduction mode allows the
buck circuit to supply more current to the lamp during the warm-up
without saturating the buck inductor.
The full-bridge stage produces the AC lamp current and voltage, typi-
cally at 200Hz with a 50% duty-cycle, to maintain normal running.
There is also a pulse transformer circuit for producing the 4kV igni-
tion pulses.
Single-Chip Ballast Control
The HID control IC manages ignition and running of the lamp. In the
IRS2573D controller this is achieved using a state machine, as
shown in figure 3. Initially starting in Under-Voltage Lock-Out (UVLO)
mode when the IC supply voltage is below the turn-on threshold, the
device enters ignition mode when VCC exceeds the threshold. The
on/off ignition timer is then activated to deliver high-voltage pulses to
the lamp for ignition. If the lamp ignites successfully, the IC transi-
tions into run mode and the lamp is regulated to a constant power
level. The IC also integrates safety features to shut the lamp down
and protect the ballast if fault conditions - such as open/short circuit,
failure to ignite or warm up, arc instability, or lamp End-Of-Life (EOL)
– occur.
Figure 4 shows the complete buck and full-bridge control circuit
schematic. The IRS2573D includes control for the buck stage, the
full-bridge, lamp current and voltage sensing, and feedback loops for
controlling lamp current and lamp power. The IC includes an integrat-
ed high-side driver for the buck gate drive (BUCK pin) and high-side
buck cycle-by-cycle over-current protection (CS pin). The on-time of
the buck switch is controlled by the lamp power control loop (PCOMP
pin) or lamp current limitation loop (ICOMP pin). The off-time of the
buck switch is controlled by the inductor current zero-crossing detec-
tion input (ZX pin) during critical-conduction mode, or, by the off-time
timing input (TOFF pin) for continuous-conduction mode.
The IC also includes a fully integrated 600V high- and low-side full-
bridge driver. The operating frequency of the full-bridge is controlled
with an external timing pin (CT pin). The IC provides lamp power
control by sensing the lamp voltage and current (VSENSE and
Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
Figure 3: State Machine for Single-Chip Ballast Control
Figure 4: Ballast Schematic Based on IRS2573D
Figure 2: Functional Blocks of an Electronic HID Ballast
31www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
ISENSE pins) and then multiplying them
together internally to generate the lamp
power measurement. The ignition control is
performed using an ignition timing output
(IGN pin) that drives an external ignition
MOSFET (MIGN) on and off to enable the
ignition circuit of the lamp (DIGN, CIGN,
TIGN). The ignition timer is programmed
externally (TIGN pin) to set the ignition cir-
cuit on and off times. A programmable fault
timer (TCLK pin) determines the allowable
fault duration times before shutting the IC off
safely.
Ballast Operation
Figure 5a shows the buck switching node
voltage (upper trace) and buck current
(lower trace) during lamp warm-up. The buck
on-time during this mode is controlled by the
buck current limitation feedback loop. Figure
5b shows the buck switching node voltage
(upper trace) and buck current during
steady-state running conditions. The buck is
working in critical-conduction mode during
running conditions and the on-time is con-
trolled by the constant power feedback loop.
Figure 5c shows each half-bridge output
voltage (upper and middle traces) and AC
lamp current (lower trace) during normal run-
ning conditions.
Conclusion
HID lamps have exacting requirements for
successful ignition and driving, which compli-
cate the design of electronic ballasts. A high-
ly integrated ballast control IC provides a
low-risk, standardised approach that simpli-
fies design and also allows for scalability so
that the same basic design can be used as a
platform to realise a family of electronic bal-
lasts for many lamp types and power levels.
Consolidating all the necessary functions for
lamp ignition, lamp control and fault protec-
tion in a single chip such as the IRS2573D
also delivers a highly reliable solution.
www.irf.com
L I G H T I N G
www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
www.apec-conf.orgwww.apec-conf.org
2011March 6–10, 2011
Ft. Worth, Texas
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Figure 5a,b,c: Buck, Full-Bridge and Lamp Waveforms.
Every power electronic system is designed for a certain failure free
operational time where the time is often taken as a design criterion
and depends on the reliability of system ingredients. The second
design criterion is very often a high power density which can be
associated directly with the semiconductor operation temperature.
The combination of both criteria is a major challenge for power mod-
ule design and calls for new reliability curves. Therefore, this
requests for new connection technologies to be implemented [1-4].
Copper wire bonding
The lifetime of today's aluminium (Al) bond wire interconnect is not
limited by the bond interface anymore but by the wire material itself.
As the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the semiconductor
die (Si) and the aluminium bond wire (Al) do not match, a periodic
stress is introduced during temperature cycling [5]. The thermo-
mechanical stress results in the wire lift-off additionally accelerated
by increasing semiconductor’s forward voltage drop. It is important to
note that the wire-to-die contact degradation does not happen at the
die surface, but within the wire itself. The initial bond crack is always
formed near the semiconductor interface and propagates within the
Al matrix along the Al-Al grain boundaries. In order to limit the degra-
dation of the bond interface copper (Cu) seems to be a good candi-
date as replacement material for an aluminium wedge bond. In addi-
tion to its superior mechanical properties, copper also offers better
electrical and thermal characteristics compared to aluminium. A com-
prehensive collation of thermo-mechanical parameters is shown in
table 1. A lower electrical resistivity and increased thermal conductivi-
ty can directly be converted into higher current densities for IGBT
modules.
Up to now, the main obstacle for ultrasonic Cu bonding of heavy
wires was the mismatch in the mechanical properties of Cu and the
semiconductor's topside metallisation. For the standard Al topside
metallisation the Cu wire simply sinks into the soft Al matrix, leading
to chip damage and weak bond interfaces. Consequently for new
chip generations a new metallisation stack with Cu as the final front
side layer has been developed. Figure 1 shows a DCB substrate with
die copper metallisation and 400μm copper wedge bonds.
Diffusion soldering versus silver sintering
Nowadays, the most common method of attaching semiconductor
dies to substrates is a soft soldering process. Nevertheless, this tech-
nology limits further semiconductors’ operational temperature
increase by the low melting point of today’s soft solder materials.
Therefore, in addition to a new bonding process, an overall power
module reliability improvement requires a change in the die-to-sub-
strate interconnect as well.
T E C H N O L O G Y
32 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
Cu Bonds and Chip-to SubstrateJoints Beyond Silver Sintering
A new set of interconnection methods is the enabler for an extended module’s lifetime
Since power electronics employs power modules the reliability of bonded semiconductordies inside a package was always a concern. By optimising the standard aluminium wirebond process a constant power cycling reliability improvement has been observed overlast years. Nevertheless, looking at the mechanical and electrical limitations of the Al
bonding, we now seem to have reached the limits of this technology [1], [2]. With copper bond wire bonding and diffusion soldering Infineon Technologies opens a
gate for the next module power density and reliability level [3]. This new set of technolo-gies is ready for operating at junction temperatures up to 200°C.
By Piotr Luniewski, Karsten Guth, Dirk Siepe, Infineon Technologies AG
Table 1: Comparison of material properties
Copper Aluminiumelectrical resistivity 1.7μOhm*cm 2.7μOhm*cmthermal conductivity 400W/[m*K] 220W/[m*K]CTE 16.5ppm/K 25ppm/Kyield strength 140MPa 29MPaelastic modulus 110-140GPa 50GPamelting point 1083°C 660°C
Figure 1: DCB substrate with 400μm Cu wire bonds on Cu metalizedIGBTs.
One alternative technology invented in 1986 [4] is sintering, often
called as low temperature joining technique (LTJ). The technique is
productively used in manufacturing of large area bipolar semiconduc-
tors. Recently, LTJ was also implemented in IGBT module production
[6]. During the LTJ process Ag powder and chemical additives are
sintered under moderate temperatures (approx. 230°C) and high
mechanical loads (20-30 MPa) to form a porous interconnection layer
between substrate and die. The process time depends on tempera-
ture and pressure but needs some minutes. Finally, a very strong and
homogenous connection between die and substrate is created.
Due to high material costs, non-compatibility with today’s soldering
technologies, extreme process parameters, long time process, need
of noble materials and complex tools (machines) the rollout of this
technology is not really seen in mass production.
Based on above considerations Infineon has developed a diffusion
soldering process for power semiconductors to form a high melting
bond between chip and substrate [1]. Depending on the choice of
chip metallisation and the soft solder material in standard soldering
usually Cu-Sn or Ni-Sn intermetallics are formed as thin interfacial
layers. All these intermetallic compounds have a much higher melting
point than the Sn-based solder from which they were formed. For
example, depending on the process parameters in the Cu-Sn system
either Cu3Sn with Tm=676°C or Cu6Sn5 with Tm=415°C is formed
during the soldering process. In diffusion soldering this solidification
process is exploited to form pure intermetallic joints with a re-melting
temperature Tm>415°C from Sn-Ag solder. Figure 2 shows a
schematic comparison between a standard and a diffusion solder
joint.
While both joints are formed from a Sn-rich solder, in the standard
joint only a fraction of the Sn is transferred into a high melting inter-
metallic phases. By contrast, in the diffusion soldered joint, the whole
volume of low melting solder is consumed by the solidification
process. The result is a high melting bond between chip and sub-
strate. Depending on the ratio between the two different intermetallic
phases, that are formed in the Cu-Sn system, the homologous tem-
perature for these joints ranges from Thom=0,52-0,65.
Optimised process parameters yield a controlled solidification of the
joint within seconds. The complete conversion of the solder into high
melting intermetallics can be ensured by the parallelisation of
process steps. Diffusion soldering finally creates a high melting chip-
to-substrate bond (Tm>415°C) with joint thickness d≤10μm where the
cross-section is shown in figure 3.
During technology development, this new diffusions soldering tech-
nique has been transferred to a fast pick and place process, realising
high throughput and a high degree of automation.
.XT Technology
A set of new Infineon technologies: copper bond wires, diffusion sol-
dering (both described in the article) and improved system soldering,
called .XT technology, result in a new power cycling curve presented
in figure 4 [3].
The power cycling curve of the .XT technology reports a higher
power cycling capability compared to the standard IGBT4 power
cycling curve. Besides this the target curve is already valid for an
operation junction temperature up to 175°C. The increase of power
cycling gives additional freedom in the inverter design, for example:
- increased lifetime for same output power and cooling conditions
- increased output power for same cooling conditions and lifetime
- decreased cooling conditions for same output power and lifetime
The first commercially available power module with the .XT technolo-
gy will be the FF900R12IP4LD representing PrimePACK™ modules
family.
References
[1] K. Guth, at. all, New assembly and interconnections beyond sin-
tering methods, PCIM2010
[2] D. Siepe, at. all, The Future of Wire Bonding is? Wire Bonding1,
CIPS2010
[3] A. Ciliox, at. all, New module generation for higher lifetime,
PCIM2010
[4] T Licht at. all, Sintering technology used for interconnection of
large areas: potential and limitation for power modules, CIPS2010
[5] J. Goehre. at. all, Degradation of Heavy Wire Bond Interfaces,
Bodo’s Power, June 2010
[6] U. Scheuermann, P. Beckedahl, The Road to the Next Generation
Power Module – 100% Solder Free Design, CIPS2008
www.infineon.com
33www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
T E C H N O L O G Y
Figure 2: Schematic comparison of a diffusion soldered joint and astandard solder joint. The diffusion soldered joint is formed of two dif-ferent intermetallic phases. Figure is not to scale.
Figure 3: Cross section of a diffusion soldered sample.
Figure 4: PC diagram: standard IGBT 4 Curve and IGBT4.XT powercycling.
34 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
With the advent of LED streetlighting (and parking lot lighting, ware-
house lighting, etc...) the two worlds of general purpose and back-
lighting LEDs have taken a step closer to one another. This is
because High Power Wide Area lighting, HPWA, of which streetlight-
ing is big piece, requires much higher total output power than a light
bulb retrofit or a fluorescent tube retrofit. The end result is that a
large number of LEDs is needed. Backlighting LED drivers have tack-
led the challenge of controlling large numbers of LEDs in series-par-
allel arrays by providing a linear current source for each string and
then improving power efficiency by using one switching power supply
with a dynamically adjustable voltage output. Up until now such sys-
tems were limited in the current per channel to as much as 200 mA
or so. National Semiconductor has taken this idea but expanded the
power to as much as 500 mA per channel, as well as adding the con-
trol and protection features demanded by high reliability outdoor light-
ing such as streetlights.
Introduction
The first part of this article series seen in the July issue of Bodo’s
Power Systems explained the principal challenges that the electronic
drive engineer faces when designing an LED based streetlight that
uses 50 to 200 1W LEDs. These are: controlling the total output volt-
age to within a certain limit for safety, matching the current from
string to string in a series-parallel LED array, reliability in case of LED
failures, and control of EMI, which becomes more and more difficult
as total power increases.
The standard concept of using a buck regulator as the constant cur-
rent source for each string of LEDs was introduced along with its
advantages and disadvantages. Part I concluded by stating that the
system architecture commonly used for backlighting could be applied
to streetlighting if the power was increased. For reference, Figure 1
shows the LM3432, a six-channel backlighting controller that is capa-
ble of driving up to 40 mA per channel at an output voltage as high
as 80V. Depending upon the maximum forward voltage, VF of each
LED, this allows one LM3432 to power 20 to 25 LEDs per channel or
120 to 150 LEDs in total. This amount is typical in laptop LCD screen
backlights, the target market for the IC.
L I G H T I N G
Streetlighting Requires LargeNumbers of LEDs
Backlighting grows up to become streetlighting technology
The type of LEDs used in backlighting differs from that used
for general purpose lighting. Whereas many general lighting
applications use less than 10 LEDsof fairly high power - such as 1Weach - backlighting tends to usehundreds, possibly thousands of
small LEDs running at powers of 50 to 200 mW or so. This meansthat the type of LED drivers and
systems architectures used have, sofar, been much different.
By Christopher Richardson, Systems Applications Engineer for Lighting, National Semiconductor
Figure 1: LM3432 Can Power 120-150 LEDs
35www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
Dynamic Headroom Control
Each channel of the LM3432 is a linear regulator configured as a
constant current sink. Linear regulators are not known for power effi-
ciency, so to power the LEDs efficiently, the LM3432 is paired with a
switching regulator (SMPS in Figure 1) which provides the power
voltage for the LEDs, and more importantly, accepts a command from
the LM3432 to dynamically adjust VO so that the voltage across each
linear regulator is always minimized. The basis for adjustment of VO
is the channel with the highest string voltage. Even LEDs binned for
forward voltage exhibit some differences, and no binning exists for
the drop in VF due to heat. The channel with the highest total LED
string voltage is the channel closest to the dropout voltage of its lin-
ear regulator current sink. This channel commands the voltage from
the Primary Power Supply to be just enough to stay out of dropout.
The channel which is the ´master´ can and does change dynamically,
hence the name Dynamic Headroom Control, or DHC. DHC puts the
total system power efficiency above 90% and makes it competitive
with a switching regulator that directly drives the LEDs.
Advantages Over Multiple Buck
A single large switching regulator with a variable output voltage feed-
ing a series of linear regulators has several advantages over the Mul-
tiple Buck option detailed in Part I. In cell phones, laptops, and GPS
units the physical space needed and cost are lower. Expanding the
concept to streetlighting, where 50 to 200 1W LEDs are driven at a
typical current of 350 mA makes a different advantage shine through:
EMI and beat frequencies. Whereas the boost regulator that feeds a
backlighting chip like the LM3432 takes a DC input which is already
heavily filtered, streetlighting and HPWA applications are driven from
AC mains. This makes the Primary Power Supply subject to a host of
legal requirements. Safety and power factor correction are very
important, but often the most challenging regulations of all when
bringing an electronic product to market are those governing EMI.
Figure 2 shows that for a system with four strings of 14 LEDs each
(keeping total voltage under 60VDC) the Multiple Buck approach
would require five switching regulators. Depending upon the total out-
put power, the AC-DC portion could be as simple as a single-stage,
power factor corrected flyback regulator. For efficiency purposes such
regulators rarely exceed a switching frequency of 200 kHz. Each
buck regulator is likely to run at a higher frequency such as 500 kHz
to reduce the size of the output inductor. Two switching frequencies
with differing filter needs already exist in the system, and as detailed
in Part I, without frequency synchronization between each buck LED
driver, the potential for beat frequency EMI exists, as each buck will
run at a slightly different frequency.
The LM3464 is a new LED driver controller which combines the mul-
tiple channel, DHC technology of backlighting with much higher out-
put currents. Each LM3464 controls up to four external power N-
MOSFETs as power linear regulators. The recommended maximum
average current is up to 500 mA per channel. Figure 3 shows how
the LM3464 can control the isolated, AC-DC offline Primary Power
supply just as the LM3432 controls a DC-DC boost regulator. Even
with drive current per channel at 350 mA, power efficiency of the
LM3464 can be over 95%, and therefore easily on par with four well-
L I G H T I N G
Figure 2: Multiple Buck System with Multiple EMI Sources
Best Seller Design Guide Trilogy of Magnetics
� Design guide for EMI filter design, SMPS & RF circuits
� Basics, components & applications
� More than 200 applications
� 4th edition
� Design software included
www.we-online.com
Figure 3: The LM3464 is a High Power, Multi-channel Linear LEDDriver
36 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
designed buck LED drivers. One important difference between Figure
2 and Figure 3 is that the LM3464 introduces no new switching fre-
quencies. The only switching noise comes from the AC-DC section.
Total system efficiency also depends more upon the AC-DC regula-
tor. The PFC flyback is economical but rarely exceeds 85% efficien-
cy. As power levels exceed 50 to 75W a boost PFC pre-regulator fol-
lowed by a forward converter is more common. As heat is a primary
concern in LED performance and lifetime, and because heat generat-
ed and power efficiency are inversely proportional, a PFC boost fol-
lowed by a resonant converter is finding use even at the 100-200W
range.
Accuracy, Fault Reporting and Thermal Foldback
When one IC with a single reference voltage controls all the LEDs, it
is easier to match currents from string to string. Given sense resis-
tors with a 1% tolerance, the LM3464 guarantees that the currents in
each string of LEDs will be within ±3% of one another. LEDs failing
as open or short circuits are detected as shown in Figure 4 and can
be configured to shut down only the affected channel or to shut down
the entire system. As a further alternative, the LM3464 can be pro-
grammed to cycle continuously in a “hiccup” fashion until the fault is
cleared. LED streetlights often include a system microcontroller which
can interpret and respond to the fault signals. Advanced systems
may even report a problem using powerline or wireless communica-
tion.
Another primary safety and reliability feature of the LM3464 is ther-
mal foldback. Using an NTC thermistor or temperature sensor, typi-
cally placed in the center of the LED array, the system will gradually
reduce the average output current of each channel through PWM
dimming once the temperature exceeds a programmable threshold.
Heat is the primary enemy of LED systems, and the humorous but
nonetheless serious example of birds building nests on the heatsinks
is one real-world example of why thermal foldback is needed. Even if
a flock of seagulls takes up residence on a streetlight, the designer
will often want to guarantee at least some light output from the LEDs
to meet safety regulations on roadways. For this reason the LM3464
also allows the designer to choose between a thermal foldback loop
which completely shuts off the system at a given temperature and a
loop with a second breakpoint at a minimum drive current.
Daisy Chains and Odd Numbers of Strings
Not all systems will have four channels, so the LM3464 can work in a
daisy chain fashion as shown in Figure 6. The DHC control loop com-
pares the drain voltages from each channel of each LM3464 in order
to maintain high power efficiency. Similarly, should a system require
three, six, or some other combination of channels not divisible by
four, as many as three channels of any one LM3464 can be disabled.
Conclusion
Using a primary power supply and a multi-channel linear regulator
with dynamic headroom control is an attractive choice for system
designers who want a dedicated current source for every string of
LEDs but have run into problems with using a buck regulator for each
string. The LM3464 offers a smaller, less expensive, simpler option
while maintaining high power efficiency, high reliability, and a high
degree of control.
www.nsc.com
L I G H T I N G
Figure 5: Thermal Foldback Loops: Right: No Minimum. Left: Mini-mum Output
Figure 6: Daisy Chaining and Disabling of Channels
Figure 4: Integrated Fault Detection and Response
37www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®www.bodospower.com July 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®www.bodospower.com July 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
SiC power electronics have capabilities to operate at high tempera-
tures and high switching frequencies [1-4]. High temperature of oper-
ation can significantly reduce the size and complexity of the cooling
system. High switching frequency enables size reduction of passive
filter components further rendering the overall power converter sys-
tem smaller and lighter.
In order to capture the capabilities innate to SiC power electronics,
innovative power packaging technologies are needed. The packaging
technology ultimately limits the high temperature and high frequency
operation of SiC devices. Arkansas Power Electronics International,
Inc. (APEI, Inc.) has been performing research on SiC power packag-
ing and SiC applications for several years and is now quickly moving
its prototypes into the market. Two of APEI’s most recent develop-
ments on SiC power module packaging and SiC power systems are
presented, highlighting their revolutionary high temperature/high
power density capabilities. First, we want to introduce our award win-
ning 250 °C, 1200V, 150 A, SiC power module with integrated gate
drive board [5-6]. And second, we demonstrate our 200 °C, 50 kHz,
300 VDC/5 kVA SiC-based three phase inverter operating under rep-
resentative and relevant requirements to an aircraft power electronics
system.
250 °C, 1200V, 150 A, SiC Power Modules with Integrated Gate
Drive Boards
Selected as one of the top 100 global technology breakthroughs for
2009 by R&D Magazine, this high-temperature silicon carbide power
module is the world’s first commercial high-temperature SiC-based
power electronics module. The 50 kW (1200 V /150 A peak) SiC
power modules are rated up to 250°C junction temperature and
include integrated high-temperature gate drivers. Jointly developed
by APEI, Inc., the University of Arkansas, Rohm Co., LTD, and the
U.S. Department of Energy, these modules usher in a new era for
power electronics. The increased temperature of operation gives the
power electronics designer unprecedented thermal design freedom,
yielding greatly reduced cooling/heat removal requirements.
The module implements a half-bridge power topology (up to eight
parallel power transistors per switch position), integrates a high-tem-
perature silicon-on-insulator (HTSOI) gate driver board, and is pack-
aged in a high-temperature plastic housing. The module can be built
and is functional with SiC MOSFETs, JFETs, or BJTs. Figure 1 is a
photograph of the high temperature silicon carbide power module
product and the promotional translucent display module.
Figure 2 illustrates a thermal image of the high temperature SiC
power module driving a DC motor load in a demonstration setup. The
demonstration operated an un-lidded SiC power module (utilizing
Rohm SiC DMOS power transistors) with the gate drive control board
in a separate module. With this arrangement, the SiC power switches
can be exposed and thermally imaged for clear illustration of high
temperature operation.
In the demonstration setup, the high-side power switching position is
operating at 80% duty cycle, while the low-side power switching posi-
tion is operating at 20% duty cycle. The 250 °C steady-state junction
temperature in this demo is reached through the elimination of the
heat-sink and operating the module under self-heating conditions in a
room-temperature ambient environment.
N E W M A T E R I A L S
Silicon Carbide Power ElectronicsModules for High Temperature
Applications (> 200 °C)The efficient high temperature capability
makes passive cooling possible
Power electronics systems are becoming increasingly important for weight sensitiveapplications such as hybrid electric/full electric vehicles and more electric aircraft. These
particular applications are redefining the standard of performance, size, weight, andpower density required from power electronic systems. Silicon Carbide (SiC) power
devices have emerged as the ideal solution to meet the performance requirements conven-tional switch technologies cannot meet.
By Edgar Cilio and Alex Lostetter APEI, Inc. USA
Figure 1: Photographs of the high temperature silicon carbide powermodule (left), and the un-lidded translucent promotional display mod-ule (right).
Figure 3 illustrates a scope capture of the high-temperature SiC
power module operating under high power conditions in a switching
test. The operating conditions for this test are as follows: 300 V DC
bus, 15 kHz switching frequency, 1 kHz output current frequency
(required by application), ~90 Arms output current, and 250 °C power
device junction temperature. In Figure 3, Channel 4 shows DC bus,
Channel 2 shows the output current (~160 A peak), and Channel 3
shows the drain to source voltage across one of the switch positions.
This module’s high temperature capability is removing previous ther-
mal limitations and enabling high power density design options for
the power electronics designer.
200 °C, 50 kHz, 300 VDC/5 kVA SiC Three Phase Inverter for Air-
craft Applications
A second power module has been developed with the capability of
high temperature and high frequency switching operation while deliv-
ering high efficiency power processing. This module and its related
experimental performance are presented next.
A brazed metal package has been selected for the housing. The
base material is copper for efficient thermal operation. These style of
packages allow for high flexibility in design and cost effectiveness
while providing sufficient space for multiple paralleled devices. The
selected 26- pin package is shown in Figure 4. Each package con-
tains a two-switch-position totem-pole, phase leg arrangement. Each
switch position consists of eight SJEP120R100 SemiSouth SiC
JEFTs and one antiparallel CPW2-1200S010 SiC Cree diode.
In order to illustrate the benefits of the developed module at the sys-
tem level, a 300V/5kW, 50 kHz switching frequency, 200°C (device
junction temperature) fully functional three phase inverter was imple-
mented using three of the modules shown in Figure 4. With an elec-
trical motor drive system for an aircraft platform in mind, the design
philosophy aimed to take advantage of the low input capacitance,
high switching frequency, and high temperature capability of the SiC
JFET in order to obtain a high power-density capable inverter.
Figure 5 shows a side view photograph (top) and a thermal image
(bottom) of the three phase SiC inverter processing ~4.3 kW at 180
°C base plate temperature and an estimated > 200 °C die tempera-
ture. This high temperature, high switching frequency operation was
achieved while simultaneously operating at ~97 % efficiency. Figure 6
shows the relevant output voltage and output current waveforms.
Compared to the 97.8 % efficiency at 30 °C base plate temperature
at a similar power level, there is only an approximate 0.8% efficiency
drop when operating at 180 °C base plate. The efficient high temper-
ature capability of the SiC system makes passive cooling possible. In
the context of a weight sensitive application such as an aircraft, pas-
sive cooling would not only reduce complexity and increase system
reliability but also enable further critical weight savings.
N E W M A T E R I A L S
38 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
Figure 3: Operation of the module under full-current condition.
Figure 2: Photograph of the un-lidded high temperature SiC powermodule (left) and thermal image (right) of demonstration module.
Figure 4: Side view (top) and corresponding thermal image (bottom)of the prototype operating at ~4.3 kW and > 200 °C die tempera-ture/180 °C base plate.
Figure 4: 26-pin power package
Availability and Pricing
Power electronics modules are the core components of power elec-
tronics systems and, arguably, the single most important component
ultimately impacting the overall systems power density and perform-
ance. Currently, APEI, Inc. is gearing resources and facilities towards
reliability studies and will have a formal line of products in the near
future. However, recognizing the importance for early adopters and
for evaluation purposes, APEI, Inc. is making its power modules
available as engineering samples. For more information and pricing,
please contact as at [email protected]. For the latest developments
please visit us at our website.
References
[1] B. McPherson, J. Hornberger, J. Bourne, A. Lostetter, R. Schup-
bach, R. Shaw, B. Reese, B. Rowden, K. Okumura, T. Otsuka, A.
Mantooth, S. Ang, J. Balda, "Packaging of High Temperature 50
kW SiC Motor Drive Modules for Hybrid-Electric Vehicles",
IMAPS 2009, Pages 663-670 San Jose, CA, November 2009.
[2] A. Lostetter, J. Hornberger, B. McPherson, B. Reese, R. Shaw,
M. Schupbach, B. Rowden, A. Mantooth, J. Balda, T. Otsuka, K.
Okumura, and M. Miura, “High-Temperature Silicon Carbide and
Silicon on Insulator Based Integrated Power Modules”, 2009
IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, Dearborn,
Michigan, September 7-11, 2009.
[3] J.W. Palmour, R. Singh, R.C. Glass, O. Kordina, C.H. Carter, Jr,
"Silicon Carbide for Power Devices", IEEE Symposium on Power
Semiconductor Devices and ICs, 1997.
[4] T. Funaki, J.C. Balda, J. Junghans, A.S. Kashyap, H.A. Mantooth,
F. Barlow, T. Kimoto, T. Hikihara, "Power Conversion with SiC
Devices at Extremely High Ambient Temperatures", IEEE Trans-
actions on Power Electronics, Vol. 22, No. 4, July 2007.
[5] http://www.rdmag.com/RD100-Awards-Silicon-Carbide-Powers-
Higher-Temperatures/
[6] http://www.sandia.gov/mission/ste/r&d100/2009winners/
SIC_Power_Module.pdf
www.apei.net
You receive more information at Tel. +49 711 61946-828 or [email protected]
Products and Solutions,Innovations and Trends
y Control Technologyy IPCsy Drive Systems and Componentsy Human-Machine-Interface Devicesy Electromechanical Components and Peripheral Equipmenty Industrial Communicationy Industrial Softwarey Interface Technologyy Sensor Technology
ElectricAutomationSystems and ComponentsExhibition & Conference23 – 25 Nov. 2010Nuremberg
SPS/IPC/DRIVES/
Experience at Europes # 1 platform for electric automation...
www.mesago.com/sps
N E W M A T E R I A L S
Figure 6: Phase voltages and currents at ~180 °C base plate (>200°C die temperature).
40 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
This equipment must be protected against a number of threats,
including electrical interference, and military grade components, con-
nectors and cables are used wherever possible to maintain integrity.
A general increase in on-board electronics systems, means cost-effi-
cient and effective protection is required from spikes, from ligthening
strikes for example, from conducting through to other interconnected
electronic systems.
UK-based component manufacturer, Syfer Technology, has been
manufacturing and supplying a number commercial and military
grade RFI/EMI and transient protection solutions for many years.
The portfolio ranges from simple decoupling capacitors, surface
mount and panel mount RFI/EMI filters, through to planar capacitor
arrays and metal oxide varistor (MOV) planar arrays.
Better out than in
The use of filtered connectors on the outside of electronic control
units is by far the best protection, by stopping the spike on the out-
side. It is better to suppress the noise or ground the spike sooner
rather than later. Relying on PCB-based transient voltage protection
means that the voltage transient is already inside the box.
Ceramic planar capacitor arrays are commonly used in multi-line
EMI/RFI filter circuits inserted into filtered connectors for military and
aerospace applications, and Syfer is the world’s leading supplier.
The Planar Capacitor Array is a unitary block of ceramic containing
capacitors or a combination of capacitors, feedthroughs and ground
lines. In operation, incoming signals encounter very low impedances
and are presented with multi-directional paths to ground. Typical
capacitance value ranges for C0G are 47pF to 4nF and for X7R are
250pF to 600nF.
But these EMI filtering devices have little voltage clamping ability to
cope with voltage spikes, lightning strikes and other severe transient
events. For this, Syfer recommends the MOV (metal oxide varistor)
planar array.
Designed specifically for connector manufacturers, it is inserted with-
in the shell of a military or aerospace type connector either comple-
mentary to, or replacing a capacitor planar array.
The same volumetric and weight benefits apply to MOV planars as to
capacitor planars, compared to alternative technology solutions.
Fast route to ground
At operational voltages, an MOV acts as a high value resistor with a
maximum specified leakage current of 5ìA. Once the voltage reach-
es a certain value the device becomes highly conductive and pro-
vides a path to ground, making it ideal for use as transient protection.
“MOVs operate almost like a solid state switch – providing a fast and
efficient short circuit route to ground to limit surges or pulses”, Ellis
explains.
The varistor offers impressive performance and typical limits are
500A peak current and 3J of energy with a transient. These limita-
tions are dependent on the geometry of the planar. High density and
thin varieties may have lower capabilities, for example.
Figure 1 shows the V-I properties of a 47V working component. At
47V, current is approx 5ìA, nominal voltage at 1mA is 63V, clamp
P R O T E C T I O N
Fast Grounding Keeps Aircraft Flying
MOV planar arrays can help protect sensitive avionics systems from lightning strikes and other transient events
Modern military aircraft are increasingly reliant on electronics for a wide range of avionics, communications, navigation, life support, weapons system and other mission
control functions.
By Matt Ellis, Senior Engineer, Syfer Technology
Figure 1: Current vs Voltage
Figure 2: Bi directional properties
41www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
voltage at 10A is 90V. In this case the part
specification would be: working voltage 47V,
nominal voltage 53 to 69V and clamp volt-
age 100V maximum at 10A.
Figure 2 shows 1mA of current flow at nomi-
nal or breakdown voltage, and 5 or 10A of
current at clamp voltage. These properties
are bi-directional so the MOV will perform
equally well for both positive and negative
transient events.
Transient protection
With a material response time of less than
500ps, no leads/tracks, and a low induc-
tance geometry, MOVs are more than capa-
ble of suppressing lightning induced tran-
sients, and voltage spikes caused by power
supply glitches and noisy switching circuits.
However, in isolation, they are not designed
to provide continuous over-voltage protec-
tion.
With its inherent capacitance, the MOV pla-
nar array can be used as a simple low
capacitance C filter (Figure 3).
But for better noise suppression, it can be
combined with capacitor planar arrays to
form a high capacitance C filter (Figure 4), or
with multiple capacitor arrays and ferrite
inductors to form a balanced or unbalanced
Pi filter (Figure 5).
Figure 6 shows the typical format of an MOV
protected connector, with the MOV on the
left, and the other two capacitor planars with
ferrite beads in between forming an unbal-
anced Pi filter.
The main alternative to MOV planar arrays is
the TVS (transient voltage suppression)
diode. Both technologies have their advan-
tages. Diodes are available for lower working
voltages and they also have lower leakage
and sharper clamping characteristics. MOVs
can compete on energy and current capabili-
ties. A key advantage is that MOVs are con-
siderably more volumetrically efficient, as
many components are contained within one
device. A reduced component count delivers
a number of cost saving benefits.
The drawback of TVS diodes can be clearly
seen in the images. Not only are extra piece
parts required to mount and connect the
diodes to the pins but those extra parts add
significant bulk and weight. The varistor pla-
nar array can be manufactured to the same
dimensional specifications and tolerances as
the capacitor planars used in the connector.
This means that adding transient suppres-
sion to a design which already has a capaci-
tor planar array, need not have an impact on
the size of the connector. See Figure 6.
P R O T E C T I O N
Figure 3: MOV C Filter
Figure 4: MOV C Filter with cap planar
Figure 5: MOV Protected Pi filter
www.circuitprotection.com© 2009 Tyco Electronics Corporation. All rights reserved. www.tycoelectronics.com PolySwitch, PolyZen, TE (logo) and Tyco Electronics are trademarks of the Tyco Electronics group of companies and its licensors.
SuperSpeed USB Circuit Protection Solutions
USB 3.0 delivers 10 times the data rate of USB 2.0 and canuse nearly twice the power. So protecting your circuit from
overcurrent, overvoltage and ESD damage is all the more critical to help assure reliable performance.
You can rely on Tyco Electronics Circuit Protection for a complete range of products and the applications expertise
you need.
• Innovative PolyZen overvoltage protection• The latest in silicon-based and polymer ESD protection
• Industry-leading PolySwitch resettable overcurrent protection
For the latest information, go to www.circuitprotection.com/usb3
42 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
In summary, no other transient voltage suppression technology can
match the MOV planar when it comes to efficient use of connector
real estate. The combination of MOV planar and capacitor planar
arrays provides sophisticated filtering for low level interference as
well as high voltage spikes. And prices are competitive with alterna-
tive technologies too!
Testing an MOV
Syfer MOV arrays have been tested to RTCA DO160-E section 22
waveform 4 level 5 and waveform 5 level 3 (See Figure 10). 47V and
8V parts were tested for leakage current, nominal voltage and clamp
voltage.
The same parts were then subjected to 500 pulses at 10s intervals
and then re-measured. Failure is defined as a greater than 10% shift
in parameters. No failures were observed.
Testing has also been undertaken in order to demonstrate the speed
of response capabilities. Parts were subjected to a 1MHz 175V
square wave with a rise time of less than 400ns. Figure 9 shows the
response of a 47V working planar. Note there is no voltage over-
shoot present prior to full clamping.
Supplying an MOV
Syfer works closely with OEM customers and the connector manu-
facturers in order to provide a bespoke product which meets exact
requirements. Up to three voltages can be combined in one array
depending on available space and specification requirements. MOV
planars are available to suit many military connector sizes, including
circular shell sizes 8 to 24, Arinc 600 and 404 series, and rectangular
24308 series. Also available are discoidal MOVs from 4.5mm OD
upwards. Syfer has raw materials in stock and a secure supply read-
ily available. Orders are manufactured to demand, with a typical
lead-time of 8 weeks.
www.syfer.com
Figure 8: Waveform 5
Figure 9: Response of 47V working
Figure 10: RTCADO-160E levels
P R O T E C T I O N
Figure 7: Waveform 4
Making an MOV
Historically, MOVs were high voltage single layer radial leaded
components. Today, they are most commonly seen in surface
mount form utilising a multilayer construction. Syfer has taken the
technology further to produce multilayer MOVs in planar array and
discoidal formats.
The MOV base material consists of zinc oxide, doped with small
quantities of bismuth, cobalt and manganese amongst other metal
oxide additives. It is built up from layers of the zinc oxide inter-
leaved with platinum forming the highly conductive electrodes.
During firing, the dopants within the dielectric material migrate to
the grain boundaries and cause each grain to act as a P-N junc-
tion with an activation voltage of approximately 3.6 volts. In order
to achieve higher working voltages many layers of ceramic are
used, the grains are effectively linked in series and parallel creat-
ing multiples of their discrete properties.
Syfer's unique ‘wet-stack’ process ensures a stress-free compo-
nent is produced with mechanical precision.
Figure 6: Internal configuration
N E W P R O D U C T S
Mitsubishi Electric is introducing its new 17.5” and 14.1” wide-XGA
color TFT-LCD modules for industrial use. The products AA175TD01
and AA141TC01 will be equipped with white Light Emitting Diode
(LED) backlights, providing a longer lifetime and enhanced efficiency,
and will be available through Mitsubishi Electric sales sites.
In addition to providing a longer lifetime, TFT-LCD modules using
LED backlights can be operated without an inverter, unlike previous
models which used Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) back-
lights. At 25 degrees Celsius, LED backlights have an operating life
time of at least 80,000 hours. The TFT-LCD modules offer a bright-
ness of 800cd/m2, making them suitable for outdoor use and in very
bright illuminated environments.
www.mitsubishichips.com
TFT-LCD Modules with LED Backlight
43www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
Expanding its ultra-low-power F9xx MCU family, Silicon Laboratories
Inc introduced the industry’s lowest power capacitive touch-sense
microcontrollers (MCUs) delivering wake-on-touch power consump-
tion below one microamp. The latest additions to Silicon Labs’
C8051F9xx family include F99x MCUs with integrated touch-sense
technology for human interface applications and F98x MCUs target-
ing power- and cost-sensitive applications such as home automation,
smart meters, lighting control, security systems, games and toys.
Like other members of the F9xx MCU family, Silicon Labs’ new ultra-
low-power F99x and F98x MCUs offer the industry’s lowest power
consumption in active mode, sleep mode and deep sleep mode. In
addition to consuming the lowest current per MHz, a common indus-
try specification, the new MCUs contain an integrated low drop-out
(LDO) regulator that keeps the current constant at 150 microamps
per MHz over the entire operating range of 1.8 to 3.6 V. The on-chip
LDO regulator helps reduce the MCU’s drain on the battery by 50
percent compared to competing products, which extends battery life
and makes the ultra-low-power F99x and F98x MCUs ideal for bat-
tery-powered applications.
www.silabs.com/pr/lowpower
Lowest Power Touch-Sense Microcontrollers
Maxim Integrated Products introduces the MAX17127, a six-string
WLED driver that provides a complete backlighting solution for note-
books and netbooks. The high-performance step-up controller inte-
grates a 48V MOSFET capable of driving up to 13 LEDs/string. This
integration reduces BOM cost and saves board space by eliminating
an external MOSFET. The step-up controller frequency can be pro-
grammed from 250kHz to 1MHz, allowing flexibility in selecting exter-
nal components. The MAX17127 features a wide input-voltage range
(5V to 26V), making it well suited for both netbooks that use a 2- to
3-cell Li+ battery and notebooks that use a larger battery.
The current in each string can be programmed from 10mA to 30mA
using an external resistor, which helps in setting the appropriate
brightness level. Meanwhile, better than ±2% accurate current match-
ing between strings ensures even LED brightness. The MAX17127
operates in a direct-dimming mode with a dimming frequency ranging
from 100Hz to 25kHz. The LED current is directly controlled by the
external dimming signal's frequency and duty cycle. The wide dim-
ming range eliminates the audible noise issues usually encountered
in WLED drivers. A low feedback voltage at each LED string helps
reduce power loss and improve efficiency.
www.maxim-ic.com
Six-String WLED Driver for Displays
44 Bodo´s Power Systems® July 2010 www.bodospower.comBodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
N E W P R O D U C T S
International Rectifier has introduced the AUIPS7221R 65 V high-
side intelligent power switch with fully integrated bootstrap function
for fast actuator applications including fuel magnetic injectors and
braking valves.
Housed in a small form factor, the AUIPS7221R delivers high fre-
quency of 100 kHz and high current capability up to 25 A making it
well suited to harsh 12 V or 24 V environments. Additionally, the
device integrates a charge pump for full DC operation and features
over-current and over-temperature shutdown to help assure safe
operation and protection under repetitive short circuit conditions.
Designing high current and high frequency protected switches using
the AUIPS7221R integrated solution drastically reduces PCB con-
straints and significantly increases the performance of the entire sys-
tem. Moreover, fuel injection is more efficient, reducing both con-
sumption and contamination
The AUIPS7221R also features diagnostic function and very low cur-
rent consumption in sleep mode.
The device is qualified according to AEC-Q100 standards, features
an environmentally friendly, lead-free and RoHS compliant bill of
materials, and is part of IR’s automotive quality initiative targeting
zero defects.www.irf.com
Rugged Reliable and Intelligent Power Switch with PWM Capability
First and only technology to enable capacitive touch-sensing with a
metal front panel
Allows inexpensive addition of touch-sensitive inputs, in all environ-
ments
Works through gloves, on surfaces that contain liquids, and enables
Braille to be used on capacitive touch-sensing interfaces
Can be integrated with existing application code in 8-, 16- and 32-bit
PIC® microcontrollers
Microchip announces the first and only technology in the industry to
enable capacitive touch-sensing with a metal front panel. Building
upon the success of the initial release of mTouch™ capacitive touch-
sensing technology, the royalty-free, robust technology now works
through metal, gloves and on surfaces that contain liquids, and it
enables Braille to be used on capacitive touch-sensing interfaces.
Designers can integrate mTouch capacitive touch-sensing functionali-
ty with their existing application code in an 8-, 16- or 32-bit PIC®
microcontroller (MCU), thus reducing total system costs. Information
on how to implement these new capabilities is available for down-
load, now, from Microchip’s online Touch Sensing Design Center).
www.microchip.com
mTouchTM Capacitive Touch-Sensing With a Metal Front Panel
Semikron introduces SEMISEAL, the first
vacuum-sealed packaging for power mod-
ules, ensuring more secure and easier han-
dling. The packaging provides proven
mechanical and environmental protection
from harmful influences such as humidity,
corrosive elements and dust, but also from
shock and vibration.
The power modules are vacuum-sealed
between a plastic film and adhesive coated
paperboard. After production, the module is
immediately sealed using a close-fitting
transparent foil on one side and coated
paperboard on the other side. The packag-
ing stays intact during stock handling and
transport. In comparison to standard packag-
ing, SEMISEAL provides a seal of integrity
for the customer. The quality of the module
is ensured until the packaging is opened by
the customer.
The transparency of the state-of-the-art
packaging allows for a visual quality check,
inspection by customs and data matrix read-
ing for module identification. SEMISEAL
packaging allows for different quantities of
one module type to be included in a single
package that is perforated to allow for easy
separation of the modules in given quantities
as needed.
www.semikron.com
Vacuum-Sealed Packaging for Power Modules
www.bodospower.com August 2010www.bodospower.com August 2010
Farnell, the Leeds-based leading multi-chan-
nel distributor of electronic and industrial
components, is continuing the expansion of
the range of products it offers that support
customers tasked with producing cost-effec-
tive, energy efficient designs. The latest
additions are Cirrus Logic’s CS1500 and
CS1600 power factor correction (PFC) con-
troller ICs. The new devices, ideal for use in
power supply and lighting ballast applica-
tions, are the industry’s first digital PFCs that
surpass analog versions in terms of both
performance and price.
Supported by comprehensive technical data
and support plus discussion forums on ele-
ment14 – Farnell’s technology portal and
eCommunity, design engineers now have
fast access to over 200 products from Cirrus
Logic’s broad range of components for audio
and energy applications. The CS1500 and
CS1600 digital PFC ICs improve energy effi-
ciency across all load conditions and simplify
system designs by enabling external compo-
nent counts to be reduced by more than 30
percent.
www.farnell.co.uk
Digital PFC Controller ICs
Ready formass production
Taking open loop technology to the next level: introducing a surface mount device.
HMS
Automatic assemblyDedicated LEM ASIC insideCompatible with themicrocontroller or A/D converter, reference provided outside or forced by external reference, 5 V power supplyImproved offset and gain drifts and enhanced linearity over traditional open loop designsVRef IN/OUT on the same pin8 mm creepage and clearance distances + CTI: 600No insertion lossesSeveral current ranges from 5 to 20 ARMS
Powerex QRS061K001 -- Fast 600V / 1000A
Single Free-Wheel Diode Module can be
used to add increased free-wheeling diode
capability across Powerex’s standard IGBT
product lines. The QRS061K001 high-cur-
rent fast diode module was developed for
use on 230 Volt AC lines (or 340 Volt DC
lines) and has an average current rating of
420 Amps.
Applications for which the QRS061K001 has
been designed include inverters, switching
power supplies, choppers, welding power
supplies, and high-frequency rectifiers. The
device has an optimized thermal manage-
ment system incorporating an AIN substrate
with a copper base.
Datasheets for the QRS061K001 are avail-
able now from Richardson Electronics, 1-
800-737-6937 (North America); or find your
local sales engineer worldwide at:
www.rell.com/RFPD
Fast/Powerful Diode Module
Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) brings
designers of mobile handsets, gaming
devices, MP3 players and other small dis-
play applications LED drivers that deliver 92
percent peak efficiency, extending battery
life. The FAN5701 and FAN5702 are 1x
to1.5x charge pump-based 180mA, 6-chan-
nel LED drivers that backlight TFT LCD dis-
plays in mobile electronics. Their low transi-
tion voltage from 1x to 1.5x mode allows
them to operate in 1x mode for a longer time
period, achieving higher efficiency. Both LED
driver products can be configured to support
clamshell form factor mobile handsets that
have both main and secondary displays.
The FAN5701 is a cost-effective LED driver
that uses two PWM inputs to control the
brightness of a grouping of four and two LED
outputs. It is ideal for applications where
there is a requirement to backlight two LCD
displays or to drive a high brightness LED
for low power camera flash in mobile hand-
sets.
www.fairchildsemi.com
LED Drivers Extend Battery Life in
Mobile Handsets
46
N E W P R O D U C T S
Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
With HelioProtection™ Ferraz Shawmut,
specialist in circuit protection, introduces a
complete series of solar power protection.
The innovative protection package consists
of four syntonic components: Helio Fuse™,
Helio Switch™, Helio Surge Trap™ and
Helio Box™.
Helio Fuse - For Specific Requirements of
PV Applications
PV cells and panels are D.C. generators.
Conventional fuses, used to protect loads
powered by the alternating current in large
grids react to very high fault currents. With
the introduction of Helio Fuse, Ferraz Shaw-
mut offers one of the first fuses that can reli-
ably clear fault currents as small as 2 to 3
times the rated current.
Helio Fuse is designed for use in solar
power systems that work on a minimum of 4
module strings. In this configuration the fault
current can already reach a level capable of
heating and damaging the insulators. To
achieve optimal protection each positive and
each negative pole must be fitted with a
fuse.
If fault currents occur within a module string,
Helio Fuse interrupts the electrical current
and disconnects the defective module. All
other string modules continue to produce
and feed electricity into the grid without the
slightest interruption. Without the protection
of Helio Fuse the inverter will cut-out until
the source of defect is repaired.
www.mersen.com
Guaranteed Protection from the Cell to the Grid
National Semiconductor announced a new synchronous voltage-
mode buck controller that drives a variety of high-current point-of-
load applications in printers, telecom, networking and embedded
computing applications.
Until today, point-of-load controllers have incorporated one or two
complex features, such as a wide input voltage range, integrated
high-current gate drivers with adaptive dead-time, inductor DCR cur-
rent sensing or on-chip bias supply sub-regulator. National’s
LM27402, however, is the first universal point-of-load controller to
integrate all these advanced features into a single chip.
A wide input voltage range of 3V to 20V allows the LM27402 to inter-
face with all intermediate bus voltages, including 3.3V, 5.0V and 12V
rails. Integrated inductor DC resistance current sense eliminates the
need for resistive power train elements to detect output current. This
increases overall power conversion efficiency and allows accurate
continuous current limit sensing. The current sense threshold level is
programmable to accommodate a wide range of load current levels
using the smallest inductor possible. www.national.com
20V Synchronous Buck Controller to Integrate Key Four Features
47www.bodospower.com July 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®www.bodospower.com July 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®www.bodospower.com August 2010 Bodo´s Power Systems®
N E W P R O D U C T S
Power Your Recognition InstantlyBased in Munich, Germany, ITPR Information-Travels Public Relations is a full-service consultancy
with over a decade of experience in the electronics sector.
As a small exclusive agency, we offer extremely high ROI,
no-nonsense flexibility and highest priority to only a handful of companies.
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Semikron presents SKAI 2, the most compact power electronic sys-
tems for hybrid and electric vehicles for use in the agricultural indus-
try, construction industry, materials handling and battery-powered
vehicles of any kind. According to market feedback, the SKAI sys-
tems, with power densities of 20 kVA/ litre provide significant size
reduction compared to the other standard products available. The
systems are designed to operate with supply voltages between 24V
and 850V and with output power ratings of between 10kVA and
250kVA.
SKAI systems are developed in line with the latest automotive stan-
dards and system qualification standards, allowing short time-to-mar-
ket and lower development costs. The systems are supplied as stan-
dard modules with low-voltage MOSFETS or high-voltage IGBTs or
with the topology of single, dual and multiple inverters. SKAI systems
are also developed to meet individual customer specifications.
The high-voltage SKAI 2 is available as a water-cooled 600/1200V
IGBT inverter system, and has been optimised for use in applications
such as full-electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars and electric buses. This
system is based on the established sintered, 100% solder-free Semi-
kron SKiM93 IGBT modules, features a polypropylene film DC-link
capacitor, driver electronics, a latest-generation DSP controller, EMC
filters, and current, voltage and temperature sensors, and comes in
an IP67 module case. Communication with the vehicle master con-
troller is via a CAN bus. These systems are designed for outputs of
up to 250kVA.
The low-voltage SKAI 2 is available as an air-cooled or water-cooled
50/100/150/200V MOSFET single and dual inverter system that is
used mainly in fork-lift trucks and other materials-handling applica-
tions. These systems are suitable for a motor output of up to 55 kVA.
The third type of SKAI 2 platform is a multi-converter box. These sys-
tems are also housed in water-cooled, IP67-protected cases and
communicate with the vehicle master controller via a CAN bus. The
signal interface features analogue and digital I/Os to allow for the
connection of a wide variety of sensors, such as temperature sensors
and resolver inputs. A typical multi-converter system would include a
three-phase 40kVA active front-end converter, a three-phase 20kVA
drive inverter, a three-phase 10kVA drive inverter, and a 14V/300A or
28V/165A DC/DC converter.
www.semikron.com
Compact Power Electronic Systems for Vehicles
C O N T E N T S
48 Bodo´s Power Systems® August 2010 www.bodospower.com
APEC 31
Biricha 17
CDE 3
CT Concept Technologie C2
CUI 21
Danfoss Silicon Power 5
Darnell 13
electronica 7
EPE 25
Fuji C3
Husum Wind 9
International Rectifier C4
ITPR 47
KCC 1
Lem 45
LS Industries 29
NDT 19
NSC 17
Power E Moskow 15
PSI 27
Semicon West 11
sps ipc drives 39
Tyco 41
Würth Electronic 35
ADVERTISING INDEX
Toshiba Electronics Europe has announced two new high-speed pho-
tocouplers that deliver isolated switching in accordance with interna-
tional safety standards in packages that are half the size of 8-pin DIP
alternatives with the same performance.
The new 6-pin SDIP (shrink DIP) TLP715 and TLP718 photocouplers
are ideal for applications such as isolated bus drivers, high-speed
line receivers and microprocessor system interfaces. Offering maxi-
mum switching speeds of just 250ns, the TLP715 and TLP718 pro-
vide buffer (non-inverter) and inverter logic outputs respectively.
Both of the new couplers have minimum isolation ratings of
5000Vrms despite compact physical dimensions of just 6.8mm x
4.58mm x 3.65mm. This allows designers to meet the reinforced
insulation class requirements of international safety standards. An
internal Faraday shield provides a guaranteed common-mode tran-
sient immunity of ±10kV/μs.
Featuring totem-pole outputs, the TLP715 and TLP718 can provide
either source and sink driving. Both devices will operate with an input
of between 4.5V and 20V, while maximum input current is 3mA.
Toshiba’s new couplers are based around a GaAlAs infrared LED
that is optically coupled to a high-gain, high-speed photodetector.
International certifications include UL1577, c-UL, TÜV and VDE.
www.toshiba-components.com
Photocouplers Meet Safety Standards
Mitsubishi Electric is introducing a new red laser diode, dubbed the
ML520G72. It offers the world’s highest output power compared to all
laser diodes in the 638nm wavelength region and so it is perfectly
suited to pico projector applications or other portable display systems
requiring a red light source with high brightness. The ML520G72’s
output power of 500mW helps with the design of high-luminous LD-
based projectors and can provide a luminous flux of up to 60 lumens
(lm). At the moment LED-based projectors typically offer only about
10lm.
Furthermore, the new ML520G72 offers an industry leading conver-
sion efficiency from electrical to optical power of 32% at 500mW and
at a case temperature of 25°C. This helps to reduce power consump-
tion and therefore to extend the battery lifetime.
Over the temperature range of -5 to 40°C, the ML520G72 can pro-
duce up to 500mW of continuous wave (CW) power. The device is
even capable to provide pulsed laser light of 600mW at 50°C when
operating with a maximum duty cycle of 25% at frequencies of at
least 50Hz.
For CW operation at 25oC the threshold current is 170mA. The oper-
ating current at 500mW/2.3V is 680mA. The red laser diode is inte-
grated into a standard 5.6mm CAN package.
www.mitsubishichips.eu
500mW, 638nm Red Laser Diode
Part NumberVDS
(V)ID
(A)
RDS(on) Max@ VGS=10V
(m�)
Qg(nC)
Package
IRFS3004-7PPBF 40 240 1.25 160 D2PAK-7
IRFP4004PBF 40 195 1.7 220 TO-247
IRFS3004PBF/ IRFB3004PBF 40 195 1.75 160 D2PAK/ TO-220
IRFR4104PBF 40 30 5.5 59 D-PAK
IRFS3006-7PPBF 60 240 2.1 200 D2PAK-7
IRFS3006PBF/ IRFB3006PBF 60 195 2.5 200 D2PAK/ TO-220
IRFB3206PBF 60 210 3.0 120 TO-220
IRFS3206PBF/ IRFP3206PBF 60 210 3.0 120 D2PAK/ T0-247
IRFR1018EPBF 60 79 8.4 69 D-PAK
IRFP4368PBF 75 195 1.85 380 TO-247
IRFS3107-7PPBF 75 240 2.6 160 D2PAK-7
IRFS3107PBF 75 195 3.0 160 D2PAK
IRFB3077PBF 75 210 3.3 160 TO-220
IRFR3607PBF 75 80 9.0 84 D-PAK
IRFP4468PBF 100 195 2.6 360 TO-247
IRFS4010-7PPBF 100 190 4.0 150 D2PAK-7
IRFB4110PBF 100 120 4.5 150 TO-220
IRFS4010PBF 100 180 4.7 143 TO-220
IRFP4568PBF 150 171 5.9 151 TO-247
IRFB4115PBF 150 104 11.0 77 TO-220
IRFS4115PBF 150 99 12.1 77 D2PAK
• Tailored for Synchronous Rectification
• Optimized for fast switching
• Up to 20% lower RDS(on)*
• Up to 20% increase in power density*
• RoHS Compliant
• Lead Free
*Compared to previous generations
for more information call +49 (0) 6102 884 311
or visit us at www.irf.com
Your FIRST CHOICEfor Performance
Lower RDS(on) Higher Performance
THE POWER MANAGEMENT LEADER